"Patrick Wadula, spokesman for the Absa bank, which is piloting the scheme, told the Mail & Guardian Online: "During a routine maintenance check at an Absa ATM in Fish Hoek, the pepper spray device was accidentally activated.

"At the time there were no customers using the ATM. However, the spray spread into the shopping centre where the ATMs are situated."

In conjunction with the police, Absa is using the technology at 11 sites, identified as high-risk by branch managers.

If successful, it will be expanded to cash machines around the country.

Transporting money is one of South Africa's most risky occupations. In May a Group 4 security guard was killed in Johannesburg when a gang used explosives to blow open a cash transit van. His partner was shot in the back as he tried to escape. ""