POLICE have called on patrons not to enter nightclubs and taverns with weapons, especially guns.
This comes after a patron was seen trying to force his way into a popular Sandton restaurant and nightclub, Tempo, with a gun on Saturday, 20 January.
It emerged over the weekend that three patrons were injured when a man fired shots after he was denied entry at the club.
In a video that went viral on social media, patrons can be seen screaming and running for their lives after a gun was fired at the door of the restaurant.
Joburg district commander Major-General Max Masha on Thursday, 25 January led Operation Shanela in Sandton, where he also visited the nightclub to monitor compliance.
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“It’s your responsibility to make sure that the patrons are safe. The main thing is the control of the access to make sure no dangerous weapons are allowed to enter, whether it’s knives or firearms,” said Masha.
He said even if the firearm is licenced, it's not allowed inside places of entertainment, especially where alcohol is consumed.
“Because the liquor outlet owner doesn’t have your licence, he can’t keep your firearm. Once you have a firearm, don’t go to a liquor outlet with it rather leave your firearm at home.”
He said the police would always answer when they are called for assistance. Masha said more than 1 000 people were arrested on Wednesday, 24 January and on Thursday for various crimes including gender-based violence (GBV).
“For the entire province of Gauteng we have arrested 1 021 suspects, for Johannesburg alone we’ve arrested 303 suspects of which 259 are your GBV cases. For today we arrested about five suspects for various crimes," said Masha.
He said they were also checking liquor outlets if they were operating within the legal boundaries. The men and women in blue also visited construction sites where more arrests were made.
The popular nightclub has since apologised.
“During the incident, an individual attempted to enter our establishment with firearms. Our steadfast security team, enforcing our strict policy against firearms entering the premises, denied the individual entry, leading to a verbal dispute,” said Tempo in a statement.
“Regrettably, the incident rapidly escalated and resulted in the wounding of two of our staff members, as well as the said individual.”
