Despite many neighbourhoods in the Laudium/Erasmia area having closed off streets with security gates in order to curb the high crime in these areas, criminals continue to brazenly attack homes and steal whatever they can find of some value.
This follows criminals arriving in a bakkie, breaking into the residential property of a carpenter on Himalaya Street Laudium, and then loading a huge cupboard that was kept in the yard, onto their bakkie without any police or private security stopping them as they arrived and when they left with the huge cupboard visible at the back of the bakkie. The theft and break-in into the property which occurred last Wednesday morning (March 19) has shocked the owner, Omar Sheikh more so as he had secured and locked all the outside doors of his house and even the front gate leading out of his yard before leaving for some quick chores and in less than an hour the wardrobe was gone. Omar told the Laudium Sun, “I was not around when the theft happened, as I left for some work at around 9:45 am that morning, and there was no one at home. I’m a carpenter, and I make wardrobes. I had finished preparing a wardrobe for my client and placed it outside as he was supposed to come in the afternoon to collect it. The wardrobe was heavy, and it cost almost R20,000 to make. When I came back home, less than an hour later, at around 10:30 am, I found that the wardrobe had been stolen. I was really upset because I couldn’t believe someone would do that to me. I had locked the gate, but these criminals broke the lock and entered the premises to steal the wardrobe. I found out that there were three criminals involved, who stole my wardrobe, from my neighbour. My neighbour thought they were the delivery guys of my client, so they didn’t ask any questions. But they were not sent by my clients, they were criminals. They came with a white Nissan bakkie and used it to steal and load the wardrobe from my yard. This is really bad, and I’m so disappointed. I was preparing the wardrobe for my client, and now the client is very disappointed, thinking I lied about having the wardrobe ready. Apart from that, the wardrobe was expensive, and it will cost me more money to make a new one. This is really frustrating. How can we live in a place where we can’t even leave our things in our own yards? I’ve learned a lesson, and now I won’t leave anything in my yard. I’m even scared to let my children play outside my house. Laudium is getting more and more dangerous each day, despite security gates all over and residents are kept in the dark about all the crime that is taking place in the area. Thankfully we have the Laudium Sun that keeps us informed for stats purposes, about some of the crime they know about. I can’t wait to move from this place and I am just thankful that my family and I were not at home at that time.”
Faadil Alli, a resident of Himalaya Street, told the Laudium Sun, “The crime in Laudium is a major issue, and is not seriously being addressed by the authorities. Whenever top ANC politicians come into the area, more so during election time, more police are around and they make some ‘noise’ for publicity sake but then all is quiet and the police disappear. All we hear is promises and more promises that crime will be tackled more seriously by the police but that’s where it stops, just promises. Laudium used to be a place where we could leave our doors open day and night, and no one would steal anything from us. As neighbours we could in the past walk into one another’s houses, but today we scared to even sit in our yard. These are the stories from the past. Now, we do not even interact with those living in our neighbourhood and no one knows anyone, and that’s why the criminals are taking advantage—because there’s no unity in our area. To fight crime, there must be unity, and without that, we will fail to prevent crime in our area.”
Muhammed Hartzenberg, a resident of Himalaya Street, told the Laudium Sun, “I heard about the theft where the wardrobe was stolen, and it’s really sad because those are middle-class families and work hard to earn their money. How can someone steal such a big wardrobe and drive out with it? Look how daring these criminals have become – too daring. We must, as a community, stop this crime to save Laudium.”
