Yet more complaints have been received concerning the ongoing crime in the Laudium area and streetlights not working for months.
Calls are now being made for Cllr Patel and CPF chair Shaheen Wahab, who claim to have walked the streets of Laudium and communicated with the community, to act on the concerns of the community regarding poor service delivery from both the police and the Tshwane Council.
In one of the latest complaints, a family from Bengal Street, in Laudium Ext 3, is highly distraught after four of their German Shepherd dogs were poisoned and killed by suspected thieves, over a short period of time. In the latest poisoning incident, it is believed that two suspects living in the nearby Itireleng informal settlement area, tried to break into Suran Moodley’s house last Wednesday (May 28), but were spotted by their guard dog, a German Shepherd. Suran told the Laudium Sun, “The incident is extremely shocking and deeply saddening for us, as we’ve lost four German Shepherds over the past four months. I believe that because we live right next to the Itireleng squatter camp, the same thieves who tried to break into our home on Wednesday may haves poisoned our dog at that time. This is the fourth poisoning incident and I strongly suspect that the same group is responsible for all four poisonings. I believe more than two people may have been involved. Crime in this area is really bad, especially on our street. Every week we read about crime taking place in Laudium, in the Laudium Sun. Laudium used to be such a nice place, but now it feels like the criminals have taken over and that crime has gotten out of control. We urgently need a stronger police presence, especially at night. We don’t see any police patrolling our street after dark. The crime situation is really serious and we need to work together as a community to make Laudium a safe and lovely place to live in again. Otherwise, residents will keep moving out and this area may soon become totally unliveable because of the rising crime.”
Another Bengal Street resident, Calvin Naidoo, complained to the Laudium Sun, “The crime on our street is unbearable — all the bad things seem to be happening right here. The streetlights haven’t been working for years and despite our constant complaints to the Councillor, nothing has been done. I find our Councillor to be useless as he hasn’t resolved much of the service delivery issues. We seriously need new leadership. We want someone who is capable and committed to doing the job properly. Right now, what’s happening in Laudium is unfair — certain people and certain streets are getting special treatment, while the rest of us are being ignored. What’s even more frustrating is that some people who aren’t even South African citizens, seem to be getting more attention and benefits than those of us who were born and raised here in Laudium. It’s really sad and honestly frightening to see how things are going. Seemingly, corrupt leaders are taking over and we desperately need a change in Laudium.”
Andrew Cassim, yet another resident of Bengal Street, told the Laudium Sun, “Crime is really high in Laudium and I believe we urgently need more police patrols in our area. The streetlights in our neighbourhood haven’t been working at all for a long time and that’s making the situation worse. Many of the crimes happening here are because the streets are so dark at night. We just want the streetlights to be fixed — it’s a basic need. I really hope the Council and the Councillor address this ongoing problem before something very serious happens to one of us, living in this area.”
