Police arrested one of a gang of four robbers, who had posed as customers at the mall's Natal Wholesale Jewellers on Sunday morning.
Shaken saleswoman Vinolia Mongale told The Times that the men came into the shop asking for advice on which earrings to buy.
Then they told her the shop was being robbed, pushed her and two of her colleagues into the back of the shop and bound them.
"I have never been so scared. One of the men told me: 'Keep quiet or I am going to shoot you'," Mongale said.
"They looked just like all ordinary customers. They walked in and started asking me if they could see the earrings.
"Then, out of nowhere, this guy pushed me to the back of the counter and told me to be quiet. He told me to tell the others not to make a noise.
"Then they tied us up, asked us to open the safe, [from] where they took jewellery - earrings, chains and other things. We are still trying to establish what is missing."
One of Mongale's colleagues pressed the silent alarm linked to an armed-response company. But when the security guard arrived he was also held at gunpoint and tied up with the staff.
The police were called when the guard did not report back to his company.
Police spokeswoman Inspector Kym Cloete said the police arrived as the robbers were leaving.
The security guard pointed out the robbers to the police and the police chased them to the nearby suburb of Florida, where the robbers opened fire on the police car.
"The police returned fire but no one was injured and one of the robbers was arrested," Cloete said.
Neighbouring shopkeepers, who asked not to be named, told The Times that they had no idea that the store had been robbed.
A shaken Mongale said the robbers "took everything that was in the safe, the money and jewels that were in stock" - and her colleague's purse and cellphone.
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