Residents living in Eramia, have raised concerns regarding the ongoing crime in the area, saying that despite going the extra mile and digging deeper into their pockets by closing off streets and installing security gates, these have not helped much.
This follows an attempted break-in during the early morning of this past Wednesday (June 25), at a home on De Winter Street, Erasmia. Homeowner, Bianca Kruger, told the Laudium Sun, “It was quite a shocking morning for us on Wednesday. At around 4am I heard a loud noise—someone was banging on our gate. The thief or thieves jumped over the main gate, which was slightly broken and the got into the yard. As soon as I heard the noise, I sent a message to our neighbourhood group and switched on the lights. I couldn’t get a clear look at the thieves, but I believe they entered through a gap in the fence along the road and then tried to break into our house. Thankfully, we all woke up in time. I think once the thieves realized we were awake, they ran off. I thank God that nothing major happened and that we responded quickly. But I want to alert the community—our street is becoming more and more dangerous by the day. We don’t see any police patrols in our area. Just last month, someone tried to break into our neighbour’s house to steal their car, but fortunately they did not succeed. Still, it’s clear that crime in our area is on the rise. Despite all the gated properties in Erasmia, crime is not decreasing—in fact, it’s getting worse. We need to protect our community. We need a proper leader—someone who can take real action and help us feel safe. Right now, our current political representatives are not doing much, and there’s been no significant development for the community of Erasmia.”
Keshab Paandit, also of De Winter Street, Erasmia, told the Laudium Sun, “I wasn’t aware of the thief or thieves who entered our neighbour’s yard, but I’ve heard many stories from other neighbours. There are criminals who roam around our street late at night looking to steal. Crime is becoming very serious in our area and criminals are moving around freely with no visible protection or law enforcement patrols for residents. It feels like the criminals have more freedom than the ordinary residents. This needs to stop. If we want to live in a peaceful society, we must tackle crime head-on. Otherwise, it’s going to become too difficult to live in a place like this. I’ve heard, including from the Laudium Sun, that Councillor Naeem Patel supports the squatter camps near Erasmia to be part of this Ward. If that happens, one can only imagine how much worse crime could get. We’re already dealing with very high levels of crime and the challenges caused by existing squatter camps. I sincerely hope our current leaders think carefully before making decisions that affect our safety and security. We cannot afford to have more people move into already strained areas like Erasmia or Laudium—we are already suffering.”
Kim Ludrook, another resident of De Winter Street, told the Laudium Sun, “We need to fix Erasmia from the ground up—it’s getting completely out of hand. Ever since the change in local leadership, things have gone downhill. Our political leaders are not handling the situation properly. There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes politics going on and in the middle of it all, we—the ordinary residents—are the ones who are suffering. Service delivery in our area is basically zero and now the crime rate is reaching an alarming level. We can’t live in a society where our leaders seem to have no clue what’s actually going on. People talk about crime fighting groups and organizations that are supposed to help, but when we ask for actual assistance, we’re ignored—it’s like being shown the middle finger. I also believe there’s a deeper problem at play: a growing sense of religious and social discrimination. This division in our community is giving criminals the perfect opportunity to take advantage. If we don’t come together as one united community, we’re only going to see things get worse.”
Chairperson of the Erasmia CPF, Pritesh Bhana, said, “I was not aware of the incident as no one has opened a case.”