You can keep the money and my daughter's Christmas present - just please return the handbag you took at a restaurant in Cape Town.

That was the plea by Louis Fourie, who wrote in a sarcastic Facebook post with video footage, showing how his wife’s handbag was "stolen" in a Spur restaurant at Tyger Valley shopping centre at the weekend.

"This wonderful family of three innocently took my wife’s handbag by mistake, [it] must be just a slight misjudgement on their side as this is the Rainbow Nation where everyone gets along. You can see ‘little Tommy’ turning around and taking my wife’s handbag by mistake. His mom must have one that looks the same. ?

"Then he passes to mommy love that also makes the same mistake. Now mommy feels in the giving mood and decides to donate the handbag to a best friend ‘Sister Act’ who promptly leaves to do some last minute Christmas shopping."

In the video, a child, a woman and a man are sitting at a table. The child leans down and pulls the bag through the gap between the tables. He then pushes the bag underneath the table to another woman, who approaches the table. She leans down, picks up the handbag from underneath the table and clutches it under her left shoulder. The child, man and woman who were sitting at the table get up and leave.

Fourie added: "You can keep the money and my daughter’s Christmas present but please return the bag with the rest."

Last month a video emerged on social media, showing a child stealing a customer’s bag at a Steers restaurant at a mall in Paarl, Western Cape. The child is accompanied by his mother and two siblings.