A frustrated shopper has taken to Facebook to voice her discontent with the treatment she received from the staff at a Woolworths store in Cape Town.

I am terribly disappointed and disgusted at the way I was treated WOOLWORTHS on Wednesday last week. I even took a video and the more I watch it, the more traumatized i get. On Wednesday, I went to WOOLWORTHS minding my own business and as a Woolworth paying customer, I wanted to return my new shoes I had bought the previous day. I went upstairs to check the right size (size 4 instead of size 5). I could not find the right size. I then decided to go to customer service downstairs. The Que was long so I decided to leave. This entire time I could sense that I was being followed but didn’t take much notice of it. As I was about to reach the exit door (WITHOUT ANY BEEPING SOUND AT THE DOOR) infact they did not even wait for me to get to the door to check if there will be any sound.The next thing I know, the 1 security guard blocks me at the door. 2 other come straight to me aggressively making accusations that I have stolen. The are now 3 security guards bombarding me and aggressively searching my bags – Need I mention that there was no beeper that went off!!! The manager just stood there. At this point I am asking him to make them stop. Everyone is starring! I am embarrassed and humiliated for nothing! My only sin is that I am a BLACK woman and therefore I look like a CRIMINAL. The security guard continues to mention that they have been following me all the way from upstairs. To my shock a white lady shopper comes straight to confront me throwing her finger in my face and says I quote “They have every right to search you” As if the embarrassment and humiliation was not enough. The entitlement and nerve of white people in Cape Town is beyond me.As this point, I am walking in the shop barefoot! They have asked me to take my shoes off, as they want to check! There is commotion, everyone is watching, and I am escorted to the back since they did not find anything!I am traumatised….someone get me a lawyer!!! Posted by Lulwando Sotashe Tukwayo on Thursday, July 5, 2018

Who is Lulwano Sotashe Tukwayo?

Lulwabo Sotashe Tukwayo is a wife, a mother, and in her own words, a loyal Woolworths shopper. On Thursday, she posted a video on Facebook with a caption that spoke of her experience at one of the Woolworths stores in Cape Town.

What happened to Lulwabo at Woolworths?

In the video, Lulwabo can be seen tussling with the store’s security guards at the entrance of the store. From when the video starts, her voice is high pitched and she clearly sounds irritated.

It appeared that the security had stopped her on her way out of the store to search the contents that were in her trolley.

Lulwabo felt offended by this since she understood that store searches were enacted on customers who were suspected of shoplifting. In her post, she recounts the events that led up to the recorded incident that is now gaining traction on social media.

Why did Woolworths security search Lulwabo?

Lulwabo says she entered the store looking to replace a pair of shoes she had purchased at a different Woolworths branch the day before. She had bought a size five but was really looking for a four.

She went to the department upstairs and after seeing that this store didn’t have the shoe size either, she decided to leave since the queue at Customer Services was too long.

She had not even made it to the door when three security guards surrounded her, demanding that she let them look through her belongings. Feeling startled and offended, she tries to defend herself and issues out the receipt from the purchase she had made the day before.

That didn’t seem to help because even after she had proven that every item that was in that trolley was rightfully hers, the security guards refused to let her go.

She further adds that “need I mention that there was no beeper that went off! The manager just stood there. At this point, I am asking him to make them stop. Everyone is staring! I am embarrassed and humiliated for nothing”.

She expresses that her only sin, in that situation, was that she was a black woman, who, because of the colour of her skin, was already deemed a possible criminal.

Was Lulwabo a victim of racism?

Things did not get any better when she was then approached by a white woman, who, according to her, threw a finger in her face and said: “they have every right to search you”.

She described this moment in her caption, saying that “the entitlement and nerve of white people in Cape Town is beyond me”.

It seems that Lulwabo is seeking legal counsel, as she ended her post with a plea for legal representation. Woolworths has not come out with any statement addressing the issue.