Crime on the outskirts of Erasmia is evidently increasing, with many residents saying that the mushrooming of illegal squatters is the cause of the crime surge.
The vast area of Mooiplaas, which forms part of Ward 61 and Ward 48 (more towards the Spruit area), has seen a rapid increase in the number of illegal shacks being built over the past few years, with the local ANC Cllr of Ward 61, Naeem Patel and the ANC led Council seemingly not doing anything constructive to stop the illegal dwellers. This follows a robbery taking place at ‘AE Suleman General Dealer’ in the Mooiplaas area of Erasmia recently. The business which was previously owned for years by the family of the late Mac, was sold after Mac was murdered during an apparent robbery at the premises, some years ago, with history now seemingly repeating itself. Only this time, fortunately no one was killed.
In the latest robbery incident that took place last Saturday afternoon at around 4pm, three black males arrived in a Toyota and while the driver of the car remained in the car, two of the thugs armed with firearms got out and entered the shop, pretending to be customers. They then held up the owner and threatened to kill him if he did not hand over all the money that was kept at the business at the time, finally getting away with a large amount of cash.
Getachau Abad, the owner of AE Suleman, told the Laudium Sun, “It was a normal day and I was alone at the shop. My shop assistant didn’t come in that day, so I was attending to customers by myself. At around 4pm, three Black African males arrived in a black Toyota and parked in front of my shop. The driver stayed in the car while the other two entered the shop. They initially pretended to be interested in buying stock and asked about the prices of various items. Once they saw that there were no other customers around, one of them suddenly pointed a gun at me and demanded all the money I had at the shop. I had kept a large sum of cash because I was planning to buy stock on the weekend. They threatened to shoot me in the head if I didn’t hand over all the money I had. Fearing for my life, I gave them all the cash I had. After grabbing the money, they quickly ran out, jumped into the Toyota waiting for them and sped off. All the business money for the day and that which I kept aside to buy stock for the shop was gone. Crime is really bad in Mooiplaas and we urgently need better security and police patrolling in our area. Honestly, I no longer feel safe here.”
Mooiplaas resident, Farus Botha, told the Laudium Sun, “Crime in Mooiplaas is increasing by the day. It is no longer safe to live here. There are squatters putting up shacks illegally all over the area. We need more police patrols in our area, as well as community patrollers to help ensure our safety. Beyond that, we need to come together as a community and support one another in times of need. Crime won’t stop unless we unite and actively fight against it. To tackle crime effectively, we must stand together, report every incident to the Erasmia Police Station and make it clear that criminals are not welcome in our community. If we don’t report crimes, the criminals will continue to operate freely.”
Johan Joubert, another resident of Mooiplaas, told the Laudium Sun, “Crime is really out of hand in our area and many of us feel that the residents of Mooiplaas are being ignored by the Erasmia Police Station. We are also part of Ward 61 and we deserve better service delivery and protection. We have families—children and wives—and we urgently need more visible policing and security support in our community. It’s time for our concerns to be taken seriously.”