It seems that only unless residents in Ward 61 stand up and call for the removal of all those who are failing in leading the community in the fight against crime, crime will continue in the area.
It is unfortunate that while residents continue living in fear, neither the local police nor the CPF or Ward Councillor, have any practical plans to make the area a safer place for all law-abiding residents.
This week, once more, the Laudium Sun received, for stats purposes, a number of calls concerning crime that took place in the area.
This follows one of the latest crimes reported, being this past Sunday night (Nov 30), when two Black males broke into a house on Orissa Ave in Laudium Ext 3, belonging to Elvis Mareti. Despite claims that the police and CPF regularly patrol the streets, the thieves managed to get away without being spotted, after stealing a number of valuables from the house, including a TV, sound system, expensive clothes and an undisclosed amount of cash.
Elvis told the Laudium Sun, “We were sleeping when the break-in took place. It was around 10pm when I was suddenly awoken after hearing strange noises coming from the back part of the house. I was in my bedroom and at first I didn’t pay much attention to it, thinking it might just be the wind or something minor. But then I heard the noise again. That is when I decided to check it out, as I became restless and could not sleep again. As I approached the back part of the house, after switching on a number of lights, I was shocked to see two Black males running out of my house. Before I could even attempt to catch them or go after them, they had already managed to jump over the front gate and flee from the scene. I believe that they must have had other accomplices outside the yard, to whom they were busy passing the items that they had already stolen. The thieves stole a number of valuables, including our TV and sound system from the living room, our expensive clothes and an amount of cash. These thieves came into our house after breaking the door at the back of the house. The worrisome part of this break-in is when, the following day, on Monday, I caught a guy who I believe was the same thief who had broken into my house and another house in the White Blocks area. The thief was walking around wearing my clothes, the same clothes stolen from my home the previous night. I immediately took him to the Laudium Police Station, thinking justice would be served, but to my shock, I learnt just how much our judiciary system is completely collapsing. The Laudium Police released the thief, saying there was no concrete evidence to keep him behind bars, even though he was literally wearing my clothes that had been stolen from my house the day before. Laudium is really becoming worse day by day and both the police and the local CPF and their patrollers are not doing their jobs. Crime is at an extremely high level and now that the festive season is here, the situation will only get worse. Criminals are becoming bolder, breaking into homes without fear and ordinary residents like us are left to suffer. We pay for safety, yet we don’t see safety. We report crimes, yet nothing happens. This kind of policing failure is putting our entire community at risk.”
Patricia Delport also of Orissa Avenue in Ext 3, told the Laudium Sun, “I heard about the break-in near us. There are a lot of crimes happening on our street and in the surrounding areas. The main problem is that the police are not patrolling our area and neither is the local CPF. There should be patrolling every single day, especially at night, but we do not see any police presence or anyone from the community patrols. This lack of visibility is giving these greedy criminals the confidence and upper hand to move freely and target homes without fear. It is becoming extremely dangerous to live like this, where criminals are taking charge of our streets and residents feel completely unprotected. We are living in constant fear. People work hard to build their homes and provide for their families, but crime is destroying our sense of safety and peace of mind. The authorities need to wake up and take this situation seriously. Proper patrols, quicker response times and stronger actionfrom the police, the CPF and the Ward Councillor are urgently needed. Without that, the crime rate will keep increasing and our neighbourhood will continue to suffer.”
Tasneem Naidoo, also of Orissa Avenue, told the Laudium Sun, “Almost all the ANC politicians in government are corrupt, so what can we really expect from the police? Criminals have the audacity to break into our homes because corrupt officials and Ministers are the ones ruling and running our country. Crime will never decrease if the upper level of the judiciary system is not reliable. As long as those in power fail to do their jobs with honesty and integrity, ordinary residents like us will continue living in fear, with no protection and no proper justice being served.”