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Famished SA shoppers ‘steal to survive’

 

… and the problem would get worse, warns senior researcher of the Institute for Security Studies

 Famine SA looting of 3 supermarkets Durban was just the start warn Market Protestors in food-rioting August 2 2009 -  With  the recent food-riots in Durban during which 3 upmarket supermarkets were looted enmasse by some 5,000 local residents, Charmel Bowman of The Sunday Tribune in South Africa now also reports that nore shoppers are turning to shoplifting basic food to survive.

She quotes senior researcher Johan Burger of the Institute for Security Studies as warning that ‘the trend became evident last year and has since soared at major supermarkets.”,

"We saw a developing trend where people were no longer shoplifting luxury goods, which fetch a higher price on the black market, but things such as food and blankets. Previously people stole more expensive items but that is no longer the case."

‘Poverty-stricken people resort to any means to get food…

Burger said there was every sign the problem gets worse.  "The worsening of the global economic crisis affects South Africa, which will result in poverty-stricken people resorting to any means to get food. There is clearly a link between the poverty people endure and what they steal." He said the country needs intervention for people who live below the breadline.

Increase in shoplifting by ‘amateurs” stealing out of necessity:

Michael Broughton, director of the Consumer Goods Council, said they had seen a “slight increase” in shoplifting recently.  He said most shoplifters caught were "amateurs" who might be resorting to crime out of necessity. Professional shoplifters were seldom apprehended. He didn’t clarify what he meant by ‘slight’.

'People more daring and unafraid of a criminal record'

DurbanPolicePEPSTOREROBBERYgoodsSuspectsArrestedJuly292009Picture by SAPS: Besides shoplifting, food-transports and food-shops also are looted/burgled more often. On July 28 2009, Durban police discovered this looted cache hidden in a deserted police station and arrested robbers who had looted these goods from a PEP-store – comprised mostly of infant diapers, chocolates and cheap clothes without much resale value – instead of luxury items…

"In some of the cases we have seen, people have stolen shampoo or a slab of chocolate. This was as a result of their losing their jobs and trying to get items that their families were accustomed to and couldn't do without. Some people steal to supplement lifestyle needs they can no longer keep up with," Broughton said.

Durban-based shopping centres and supermarket chain stores said they had not seen “a large increase in shoplifting, but it did happen”.

Last week in Durban, three major supermarkets also were looted by some 5,000 local residents during a ‘protest action’ against the forced removal of the 100-year-old Early-Morning Market, which will force thousands of informal traders to vacate their pitches as they are being forced to make way for an upmarket luxury shopping mall specifically targetting WC2010 tourists. Read the entire article: http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=79&art_id=vn20090802102104982C908235&newslett=1&em=205034a6a20090802ah