The court was told that between 8am and 9am on July 29, 2016, Mlotha put a pack of beef priced at R115.51 into a cooler.
Shortly after 2pm, when Woolworths reduces the prices of items approaching their sell-by date, CCTV footage showed her retrieving it, asking a shelf-filler to place a “30% off” sticker on it and putting it into her shopping basket.
Food department manager Jason Scott said she paid only R80 for the beef, and while she said she had reserved it for a customer who failed to pitch, she was unable to provide evidence for her claim.
What she had done was regarded as a “breach of the honesty code of practice to be met with instant dismissal”, said Scott.
Dismissing Mlotha’s claim of unfair dismissal, Tlhotlhalemaje said she “knowingly” breached the company’s rules and policies related to “honesty and integrity”.