By Buziwe Nocuze
A Cape Town resident was allegedly locked inside a Shoprite freezer after he was caught stealing.
The Gugulethu community policing forum (CPF) claimed security guards locked the man in the freezer at the Shoprite store in the Gugulethu Mall on Sunday.
CPF spokesperson Linda Kabeni said the man was accused of stealing two compact drill machines from the store.
Instead of calling the police, the security guards allegedly put him in a freezer.
Kabeni said the South African Human Rights Commission, the Public Protector, the media, and other groups should investigate and hold Shoprite accountable for violating the man’s human rights.
“We think this happened because the pensioner is black, poor, and old,” said Kabeni.
“If someone commits a crime, the police should handle it. Shoprite shouldn’t have taken the law into their own hands and ignored the pensioner’s rights.”
Shoprite responded: “Initial reports indicate that no one was held in a cold storage facility at Shoprite Gugulethu on Sunday, 25 August 2024.”
The supermarket chain also said that since this is now a police matter, it could not comment further but would cooperate fully with the investigation.
Western Cape SAPS spokesperson Sergeant Wesley Twigg said: “Gugulethu police are investigating a kidnapping case following an incident at a supermarket in which a 52-year-man was put in a freezer by security personnel on Sunday, 25 August.
“The case was opened by the complainant (victim) on Tuesday afternoon at approximately 5pm. The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation and no arrests have been made yet.”
In May this year, a man died after a Shoprite manager allegedly locked him inside a cold storage room – and then left him there for 11 hours. He was accused of stealing a chocolate bar.
Earlier this month, police arrested two staff members of a Shoprite branch at City View Mall in central Durban after they allegedly defrauded many recipients of their R370 social relief of distress grants.
Pictured above: Shoprite.
Source: File
