Cases of shoplifting seem to be rampant in Louis Trichardt, with the police having to deal with more than two cases per day.

A shop owner and staff caught a Zimbabwean shoplifter red-handed on Tuesday last week.

“We have been suffering from regular disappearance of our stock for a long time,” said Mr MC Erasmus, owner of Meat o Africa, a butchery and take-away enterprise.

Mr Erasmus said that he and his staff observed a certain modus operandi where ladies with long skirts, mostly Zimbabweans, would steal stock by hiding under their skirts and walking out of the store.

“Neighbouring shops have the same complaint,” Erasmus said.

On Tuesday, at about 15:30, Ms Gloria Ndou, an employee of Meat o Africa, noticed a lady wearing such a long skirts in the shop. She saw the lady take a four-litre bottle of cooking oil from the shelf. Shortly afterwards, the woman walked out of the shop with nothing in her hands. Another employee, Mr Laudreck Ramukosi, then decided to follow the lady.

“She walked about 45m and then stood against the wall near Checkout. She dropped the four litre bottle on the ground and tried to run away when she realised I had followed her. I caught her and took her back to the shop. We called the police and opened a case of stealing,” Mr Ramukosi said.

“The situation in Zimbabwe is bad and the Zimbabweans really suffer. But how I see this particular incident is that it is part of a crime syndicate. The person was well dressed and did not look hungry. In the past, we have had persons taking something and one could see that they were really hungry. I don’t think that this was the case here,” Erasmus said. He added that one had to be pretty skilled to carry such a large bottle of oil between one’s legs.

Erasmus was of the opinion that an example should be made of this criminal to stem the tide of crime in the area.

“If we don’t fight against crime, employers will have to retrench some of their employees and eventually close their shops,” Erasmus said.  

The official spokesperson for the Makhado SAPS, Captain Ndwamato Vele, said this week that the perpetrator had paid an admission of guilt fine of R500. He said that, as far as the police could determine, it was the perpetrator’s first arrest.