Police Officer Not Reinstated After Shoplifting Saga

A former police sergeant has found herself in a spot of bother after an unusual shopping trip led to her dismissal. Noleen Bam, once a proud member of the South African Police Service (SAPS), was caught shoplifting at a local Checkers supermarket alongside her mother. The incident unfolded when the pair loaded items into a baby bag, paying for only a few items while leaving others behind. An alarm was triggered due to a few unscanned meat packets, and a security officer soon discovered the unpaid goods.

In the ensuing confusion, Bam provided a creative alias, “Suzette Karelse,” which, apparently, also happens to be the name of a South African singer whom, I must confess, I had never heard of. Ms Bam later claimed this was merely a childhood nickname her mother gave her on account of her fine singing skills as a child.

Bam’s mother also testified that she had bought meat items from a stranger for R50 while her daughter was busy with her baby. According to the list of returned stolen goods, the value of the fresh meat items came to about R440. She felt sorry for the man who begged her to buy the goods and did not have a proper look at them. He emptied the goods into her black and white handbag. Then they went and shopped at Game before going to Checkers. She denied they stole anything from Checkers. However, both a police sergeant and a security officer offered testimony contradicting her account, affirming that the evidence supported the store’s version of events.

Bam’s appeal to the Cape Town Labour Court, where she sought reinstatement, argued that her medication had affected her actions on the fateful day. Yet, the arbitrator had already ruled that the dismissal was substantively fair, finding her explanations unconvincing. The court, for its part, was not persuaded by the new medication claim, noting it had only surfaced during the appeal. In the end, the court upheld the arbitrator’s decision, leaving Bam to reflect on a rather curious chapter in her career.

Cue the exit music…and maybe a supermarket alarm.

You can read the full Bam v Safety and Security Sectoral Bargaining Council judgement here.

Written by Theo Tembo