The Mall of Africa was forced to momentarily close its boom gates because of the heavy traffic congestion into the new complex at its opening on Thursday.
The mall, located off the N1 highway, can be accessed through 26 entrances; and has 6,800 parking bays.
It is expected that 15 million people will visit the mall annually.
However, motorists complained of heavily backed up traffic on the N1 and N3 North approaching the Allandale offramp.
The mall was forced to temporarily close its booms due to high volumes.
“Due to traffic congestion, we have closed the mall parking/booms, & will reopen as soon as traffic subsides. Apologies for the inconvenience,” the development’s Twitter account said.
It later re-opened the complex: “Kindly note that booms are open again, you may also make use of the flyover coming from Pretoria Main Road.”
The City of Joburg encouraged residents to ‘walk, cycle and use public transport to evade traffic’.
The CoJ tweeted: #MallOfAfrica quick short cuts, take New rd & Woodmead offramps both N/S. Allandale offramps hectic #Jhbtraffic