Radio listeners and other members of the public had a mostly negative reaction to the response from the police’s 10111 call centre to a SARS official who was allegedly being held hostage in Pretoria. In the sound clip‚ which emerged on Thurday‚ Vlok Symington informs the operator that he was being detained against his will.The operator’s first response was to ask Symington who was holding him hostage. When Symington replied that he was being held hostage by a police brigadier and some other people‚ the operator seemed astounded with the answer‚ telling Symington: “They held you hostage but you managed to phone the police in front of them?”The operator also seemed incredulous when Symington said he was being held in the SARS offices.Most responses on Twitter showed similar incredulity at the exchange.One user said it was better to call a radio station or a friend:The moral of this "hostage drama at SARS" is nvr dial 10111 when in trouble rather call @Radio702 or a Tshomi #disturbed@gwalax@Jonoloud— Mbali Gazide (@mbaliGAZIDE) October 27, 2016 Western Cape Premier Helen Zille had this to say:If this is how the 10111 emergency number responds to a hostage crisis, we have a problem. https://t.co/lvBWSkSPdY— Helen Zille (@helenzille) October 27, 2016 Another user opined:Here's a 10111 operator you don't want to get stuck with in an emergency: https://t.co/pNhxeZzOqx— Michael Cardo (@michaelcardo) October 27, 2016 However‚ one Twitter user was not happy with Symington’s expectations of what police should do:The attitude displayed by Vlok Symington on that that 10111 phonecall's representative of many like him: they report & others must just jump— AkanyangM (@AkanyangM) October 28, 2016 - TMG Digital ..