"The biggest reason for rodents at shopping centres is because of the food. Because people don’t clean [properly]; rodents multiply," Mario Pluke of Rentokill told News24 on Friday.

There were plenty of places for them to hide, and the gardens around malls also provided perfect shelters. The problem usually gets worse over Christmas.

"What shops do is before December they stock up, which means areas are fully packed, creating ideal environments for rodents to hide."

Eileen Slabbert of Eco-Wise pest control said malls were prone to rodent issues.

"Pests are definitely increasing. People don’t want to clean and because of the dry conditions out there, rats are forced to head toward shopping centres and factories to get food," she said.

Similar experiences

News24 reported on Thursday that a rat ran out of a customer’s loaf of bread at a till in the Canal Walk Woolworths on January 7.

A number of readers have recounted similar experiences.

"I saw several mice running between the groceries on the shelves. I called the staff over, but they were totally uninterested," one reader said about a grocery shop in another mall.

A second reader said she had bought bread from a store and realised the packaging had been nibbled at.

"When I got home, I noticed the plastic packaging has been bitten through by a mouse or rat," she said.

Woolworths told News24 on Thursday that the Canal Walk’s management had told them rodents were a problem throughout the mall.

Canal Walk marketing manager Vanessa Herbst, however, said the problem was isolated to Woolworths.

"This is specifically within the Woolworths store. We, from our side, have started to assist Woolworths with dealing with the issues. We have never seen anything like this," she said.

- News24.com