Despite many neighbourhoods in the Laudium/Erasmia area closing off streets with security gates, crime still continues in these areas, including petty crime.
There have also been a number of reports that the guards who are stationed at some of these gates, giving limited access to the area at night, are not equipped to confront intruders trying to get into the area. Reports of many unknown people jumping at night over these closed security gates that are not guarded at night, in order to gain access into the neighbourhood. In one of the incidents, a resident living in a gated area, is believed to have taken a photo of an unknown person in the area, recently jumping over a gate on Delhi Street, in Laudium Ext 3. Also, the Laudium Sun continues to receive reports of petty theft occurring in these gated areas.
In one of the latest reports received from a resident, for crime stats purposes, so that other residents could be warned about theft continuing in these gated areas, a local resident, believed to be a drug addict was captured on CCTV, stealing a bin outside a Clove Str home. Vic Naidoo (66) the owner of the home urged residents of Laudium to be vigilant, after he was surprised to learn from the CCTV footage that the culprit who stole his bin last Wednesday was a known resident. Vic explained further to the Laudium Sun, “On Wednesday early morning, at about seven o clock, I took out our rubbish bin from the yard and kept it outside as normal, as it was the weekly day for the Council truck collect and empty our bins in the area. Thereafter, after a while I left to go to Johannesburg for some work, thinking that I would take my bin into the yard when I got back. However when I came back at around 5pm from Jhb, I was surprised that our rubbish bin was missing. I went to my neighbours to check if they saw anyone taking my bin, but none of them knew anything about it. It was only after a while, when I realized that I should check the CCTV footage from my cameras to see what happened to the rubbish bin. When I checked the footage, I saw a guy who is known in the community and who I recognised as being a certain Ebrahim, taking away our rubbish bin. This guy looks like a decent man, yet he came to my house and stole our bin and more so he was daring to steal it during broad daylight. The CCTV footage showed the time of the theft to be in the morning at 10am. I don’t know why this guy chose to steal our rubbish bin,” Vic alleged. A visibly fuming Vic added, “I don’t know what this guy is going to do with our rubbish bin. What this man did is astonishing. How can a grown man like him go around stealing rubbish bins from outside the homes of the community. These kinds of petty crimes are committed by drug addicts not older people. I don’t even know the age of this guy who stole our rubbish bin and I don’t know where he stays. What I do have is a picture of him stealing the rubbish bin outside my yard. I have opened a case of theft against him at the Laudium Police Station and I just hope that the culprit will be caught and prosecuted.”
Attempts to get a comment from Ebrahim were unsuccessful. The Secretary of the Laudium Community Policing Forum (CPF), Mohammed Noor told the Laudium Sun, “We are aware of the petty crimes happening around Laudium, but unfortunately we cannot do much as many residents do not open cases at the police station.”
