SIMPIWE PILISO

SHOPLIFTERS are cleaning out retail stores in Gauteng, leaving store managers unable to account for millions of rands worth of products.

Some retailers have even been forced to remove certain products from their shelves, while others have installed extra cameras along aisles where "popular items" are stolen.

But despite state-of-the-art surveillance cameras and increased security, stores countrywide lost more than R6-million worth of products last year.

A report by the Consumer Goods Council of SA said the stolen goods ranged from food products to cans of deodorant worth only R10.

Joanna Robinson, spokesman for the council, said its research had found that some stores were forced to remove certain items from the shelves and place them behind the counter instead.

"In some cases, certain products are simply unavailable due to high theft rates." She said their research had found that some shoplifters were educated professionals with full-time jobs.

The nine-page document by the council, which also represents retailers and wholesale chains, shows that shoplifters often stole products they could not afford. Items such as music CDs and DVDs, razor blades, camera film, batteries, videos, cosmetics, clothing, tobacco products and electronic gadgets were particularly popular with shoplifters

In addition, police statistics show that 71888 arrests for shoplifting were reported countrywide between April 2003 and March last year. Of these cases, 17905 were reported in Gauteng, 13362 in KwaZulu-Natal, 13901 in Western Cape and 7893 in the Eastern Cape.

The statistics show that 16770 cases were reported in Gauteng the previous year.

Superintendent Lungelo Dlamini, a Gauteng police spokesman, said the increase in shoplifting was a major problem.

"Although businesses have well-established security structures and continue to improve and strengthen their security, shoplifting continues to take place."

The Shoprite Group, Africa’s largest food retailer, has installed electronic surveillance cameras in 95% of its stores. But the group’s marketing manager, Brian Weyers, said that, while the cameras had managed to reduce stock losses, shoplifting cases were still being reported.

One of Joburg’s premier shopping destinations, Sandton City, has built holding cells in the centre. Boasting more than 120 stores, the multi-storey centre records about 30 shoplifting incidents a month. Centre manager Gary Vipond said Sandton City’s team of 150 security personnel, including plainclothes guards, work around the clock to curb the spate of thefts.

Cresta Shopping Centre, west of the city, has also dispatched "undercover" personnel to patrol stores in the building. General manager Meshack Phiri said that, in order to beef up security measures, they had started a project banning "known" shoplifters from the centre. He would, however, not elaborate on how the process worked.

Security company PWV Security, contracted by several shopping centres, said they were radioed by a cellphone company after a shoplifter stole a cellphone, but accidentally left his identity document and bank card on the counter.

In another incident, stunned policemen arrested two female shoplifters who had stuffed their underwear with groceries. Between them they had managed to stash four 1kg packets of rice, two 1kg packets of sugar, two boxes of meat sauce powder, two bottles of cooking oil, a packet of batteries and two 500g blocks of margarine in their undergarments.

The store owner called the police when he noticed that the women leaving his shop appeared to be larger than when they entered.