Bomb found at Eastgate mall (my local shopping centre)

An “explosive device” was left outside a jewellery store at the Eastgate Mall today, police confirmed, media says.

To say I'm stunned is an understatement. We may have lots of political disagreements in South Africa about any number of issues, but we're not at war with each other.

As for localised war-fare in the city, I don't imagine there is a lot of mileage to be had from harming us. The people in this area are not extremely wealthy or very poor (either garnering strong political support). And while the mall is very busy, it's in a quiet part of Johannesburg, and it's mostly families who live here, which means parents were at work and kids were at school when the bomb was found.

As for it being related to crime ( bomb found outside jewellery store) it still doesn't make sense because the store is far from the entrances/exits and the bombers/robbers could still be trapped in the mall.

Never mind the fact that the security is tight, though unobtrusive. And I know that mall security people are constantly watching the shoppers because once a stranger approached me; I don't even remember what he wanted from me. I must have looked off or something because within 2 minutes, we were surrounded by security personell asking me if this person was bothering me and shooing him away.

Yeah I know, Big Brother is watching me, but he's been watching me for so long that I always take his presence for granted. And if these bombers did their research, surely they'd know that few things go unseen at the mall? Surely they know there is also mall security guards at all the outside gates who stop cars going out of the shopping centre gates to make sure that people driving out actually have the keys to the car and didn't hotwire it? Anyhoo, the whole bomb issue is leaving me with a big WHY?

It also made me think about the amount of security that surrounds my everyday life: the guards at many of street corners in my subrub(including my street), the security company cars that patrol the streets, and which come more often if a homeowner has a party or any kind of big gathering, the electronic security that most homes have, the guard dogs most families feel that they can't live without..... I suspect I'd feel very exposed if I stepped outside my gate and didn't see someone in uniform. And intellectually I know a lot of people around the world (or even in South Africa) don't live like that. And I don't even want to think about what  having that level of guards means regarding having privacy....