As the economic recession forces businesses to close to cut back workers, more people are becoming unemployed. Desperate to survive, they are resorting to shoplifting to feed their families and themselves.

The Consumer Goods Council of South Africa (CGC) has reported that by June this year over R3 million worth of goods were reported to have been stolen from shops. That is almost as much as the total for the whole of 2008, which was R4.231 million.

Michael Broughton, director of the CGC's crime prevention programme, said this showed there was about a 10% increase in shoplifting so far this year. And Broughton said it was food and basic necessities that were being stolen, not luxury goods.

He said Gauteng came up top on the shoplifting list, followed by the Western Cape.

Things which could be easily hidden, such as CDs, DVDs, razor blades, toiletries and skin creams were stolen, and shoplifters were often caught eating food while in the store, or stealing basic foodstuffs like maize and rice.

"Its tough times and people are finding it difficult to survive."

But he said every person caught stealing was arrested, unless they were under the age of 14 or older than 65 years.

Unemployed mother of two children, Neliswa Dladla, 34, of Khayelitsha, said the increase in shoplifting was no surprise; it was popular amongst poor people. Dladla said in a recent protest over high prices, poor people shoplifted food, because it was "impossible" to survive.

She said many single and young mothers put on bigger clothing when shoplifting, so that they could hide things under their clothes.

When people first started stealing it was normally for things the family desperately needed. But when they got away with it, they started stealing luxury items such as meat and alcohol.

Dladla, who does not received child support grants because her children were too old, said many poor families in the townships spent days without food, and shoplifting became the only way to put food in their stomachs.

"As long as recession in here, shoplifting is here," she said.

Manager at a popular Cape Town Clicks store, who didn't want to give her name because she said she was scared shoplifters would come after her, said she believed the high prices of food was the reason people shoplifted. She said the commonly stolen items were basic household goods such as Vaseline, shampoos, skin care lotions and baby food.

She said many shoplifters did not steal deliberately, but because they were unemployed and unable to support their families. Recently an elderly unemployed man was found stealing an L'Oreal cream, which he wanted to sell so he could buy electricity for his home.

She said the store had security and CCTV cameras and even pictures of shoplifters that had been caught, but the number of shoplifters continued increasing.