Housebreaking or burglary has consistently been the most common crime experienced by households in South Africa, with the number of households experiencing this crime within the Laudium and Erasmia community continuously rising, without much hope of any decline.
This follows another burglary in the area, this time at a home on Taj Str this past Saturday (March 11). However, the victim believes that his home was specifically targeted due to his involvement in the local CPF.
Mubashar Hussain, the owner of the Taj Str house and an exco member of the Laudium CPF told the Laudium Sun, “On Saturday afternoon at around midday, my wife together with my child and I, left our house to go to my business, in the Laudium CBD. Whilst leaving the house, we noticed a car drive past, but when they came near our house they particularly looked into the yard as we were pulling out. At the time I didn’t think anything suspicious about it so I drove off to my shop on Tangerine Street, Imran Supermarket. Although the shop was opened earlier by my family member, we went later as it gets busier at around lunch time. We then left the shop at around 4pm as my wife had to prepare for supper. When we reached home to our horror, we noticed that our front gate together with the front door had been broken. Everything seemed to be quiet, so I didn’t find it necessary to call anybody before entering the house. Upon entering it was clear that our house had been ransacked. My eyes first fell onto the empty wall bracket in our lounge where our Samsung Smart TV was. We walked further through the passage into the bedroom to be further distressed that everything was a complete mess and thrown onto the floor. Jewellery and some cash were taken from our room. These thieves went room to room searching every corner for valuables. They had enough time to ransack the entire house and also break the back door, which I assume they used to get away. I think this burglary was premeditated and that I was deliberately targeted since I am part of the CPF group. As was reported in the Laudium Sun last week, our CPF chairperson was also targeted twice in one week. We are being targeted because we are fighting the criminals head on.”
Laudium CPF Chairperson, Shaheen Wahab, who also lives on Taj Street told the Laudium Sun, “When one of our CPF Members Mubashar Hussain contacted me to notify me about his home being ransacked, a few other CPF members and myself rushed to the scene. We found his house in a total mess. It is obvious that the thieves wanted to steal all the valuables. Judging by the amount of things stolen and seeing that the burglary took place during the day and to top it on a Saturday where the streets are busier, it seems that there was one thief involved and that they had a vehicle to carry out all the goods that they stole. What I find strange is that no one saw these thieves coming into the area or leaving. We have so many private security vehicles patrolling the areas and the police vehicles yet these criminals were undetected. I urge the community to be vigilant of your neighborhood and to report any suspicious vehicles or people in the area. As the CPF Chairperson, I am really concerned as it has now become a frequent pattern of CPF members being targeted by criminals. Last week my house on Taj Street was targeted twice. Not long back a female member of the CPF and her husband fell victims to a robbery on Bengal Str. I believe we are being targeted because we have pledged to fight crime and to expose corrupt police officials in the area. CPF members are getting frequently targeted and this is a huge concern.”
