As crime continues in the Laudium area, residents are once more asking just where the so called CPF Patrollers patrolling in the area are.
This follows Himalaya Street residents waking up in the morning recently, only to discover that a portion of a fence, including a gate, put up by PAJ Security together with donor funds, to block access to the hill in order to curb crime, had been stolen. The discovery of the theft, which was made the previous Tuesday morning, has once more raised the concerns of the community living in Laudium Ext 3 regarding the high crime in the area. ANC politicians from the Tshwane Council have, on numerous occasions during election campaigns, promised to close off all access to the hills in order to curb crime, but to this day the areas remain open and a haven for criminals.
Bob Bhagwan Dass, a resident of Himalaya Street, Laudium, told the Laudium Sun, “I was very angry when I heard in the morning that one of the pedestrian gates closing off a vacant ground, had been stolen during the course of the night, by some thieves. This is where PAJ Security had recently installed a long fence with several pedestrian gates. The thieves managed to steal one gate, but left the other two, likely because they couldn’t remove them. This is really bad because PAJ Security installed these gates at their own expense and how can people just destroy someone’s hard-earned work and money? Prajay Ramjee, the owner of PAJ Security, is doing so much for the welfare of the Laudium community and out of the blue, these thieves stole the gate. Crime on our street is really bad, despite having so many street gates in the area. This is ridiculous and it must stop. We cannot continue living in fear every day of our lives because of these greedy thieves. The only way to stop this is to fully engage our failing law enforcement agencies to be more active, along with the local CPF community patrollers, because it seems we are living in an era where criminals have too much freedom.”
Mahmood Sajid, another resident of Himalaya Street, Laudium, told the Laudium Sun, “This is total madness. PAJ Security tried to help our community by installing fences on the open ground, to block thieves running into Atteridgeville after attacking residents. But I guess these thieves and criminals didn’t like the idea and that’s why they stole the pedestrian gate from the ground. This is really bad and it must stop. We need people like Prajay Ramjee, who goes out of his way to help the community, but unfortunately, some people don’t appreciate it. That’s why crime is becoming so bad in Laudium. We need to close off all access from Ext 3 leading into the hills.”
Kenneth Koena, a Khan’s Security Guard, who was on duty at one of the street gates, on Himalaya Street, told the Laudium Sun, “I was not on duty that night, my colleague was. But I heard about the theft of a gate and it’s not right what the thieves have done to the new fence installed by PAJ Security.”
When the Laudium Sun asked how the guard who was on duty that night, stationed right next to the open ground where the gate was stolen, didn’t hear anything, Kenneth remained silent and avoided the question. PAJ Security owner, Prajay Ramjee, told the Laudium Sun, “At 02h40 on Tuesday morning, I was woken by rustling noises. I live close to the open veld and when I shone my torch over the field, I saw a man pulling on the fence. He then ran up the hill. The PAJ patrol vehicle was dispatched and after searching the getaway route, the response officer informed me that the pedestrian gate had been stolen and that the suspect had also damaged the large gate, while trying to rip it out. Last month, five of the fence uprights were stolen during the night. In June, PAJ Community Development, our non-profit company, spent a lot of donor money clearing this area and erecting the fence. This space was once a dumping ground for residents and an easy escape route for criminals. Our goal is to transform it into a free-to-use recreational area for everyone. We already started our Sunday hikes from here and soon we plan to have a multi-court for volleyball and netball, a kiddies’ play area, as well as a cycling and walking track. We will also install cameras to help keep the area safe. We often host hikers from out of town and it is embarrassing to see so much rubbish dumped along the path. During our recent cleanup, we found a sheep carcass dumped at the start of the hiking trail, as well as a dog carcass buried in a shallow grave. I appeal to residents to please help us keep our environment clean.”