The Mall of Africa, located between Johannesburg and Pretoria, and the Sandton City mall in Johannesburg’s Sandton district both closed after reporting bomb threats.

“Police searched and nothing was found and it was handed to the management,” police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said of the Mall of Africa.

A similar search failed to turn up any bomb at Sandton City. Management of both malls said shopping had resumed.

Shiny malls have sprung up throughout South Africa, creating thousands of jobs. Mall of Africa is set in the sprawling Midrand suburb housing many of South Africa’s newly middle-class black consumers, about 20 km (12 miles) away from its rival Sandton City.