Despite the Laudium CPF under the ANC’s Shaheen Wahab, claiming to be patrolling the streets of Laudium on a regular basis, criminals are still freely prowling the streets of Laudium, even late at night.
This has caused residents in the area to complain that they cannot even sleep peacefully at night, as they remain in constant fear of being attacked by criminals. In one of the latest such incidents of crime, a Pearl Street family of Laudium was left shocked, after learning that at least two thieves had entered their property in the very early hours of last Monday morning. What was more frightening for the Raza family, was that the thieves were on the roof of their home. Fortunately, the thieves were spotted by an alert neighbour, before they could gain entry into the house through the roof.
Bilal Raza, the owner of the Pearl Street home, told the Laudium Sun, “It was a horrific night for my family and I, after learning that two thieves were actually on the roof of our house. It was about 1:45am, when my sleep broke, as my dogs were barking very loudly. Although my eyes opened, my first thoughts were that perhaps the dogs were barking because they may have been distracted by something like a cat nearby. Thus, I tried to get back to sleep. But the barking became more intense and that is when I got out of bed as I suspected that something was wrong. I was on my way out to check what was happening in the yard but as I was going out to see what was going on, at that moment a neighbour called to tell me that he looked out of his window when he heard my dogs barking and spotted someone on my roof. Without any hesitation, I went outside to check for myself. Since it was dark, I couldn’t clearly see who exactly was on the roof. However, I then went to check my CCTV footage and that is when I saw that there were two black males on my roof. It was clear that these two thieves were on our roof to break into our home. It was when I stepped outside to check what was happening, that was the time the thieves on the roof fled the scene. Later at sunrise, I checked my yard to see if anything was missing, but I could not immediately tell. However, I found a car key and some car papers in the yard. I then learned that these thieves had actually been in my neighbour’s yard before getting onto my roof and had stolen items from their yard. It seems they dropped a few items in my yard while fleeing. Crime is really increasing in Laudium and it’s very worrying to see how boldly criminals are operating these days, without any fear. We urgently need more vehicle patrols and more visible police presence in our area, as we hardly see such patrols.”
Vernon Naicker of Pearl Street, told the Laudium Sun, “Crime, especially on Pearl Street and the surrounding areas, is at an extremely high level. It seems the criminals are practically taking over Laudium. They don’t even hesitate to break in or steal while residents are still inside their homes. We urgently need more protection from the police, the CPF and other security organisations. The gating system is not helping at all and I believe the money residents have invested in this, is not providing the safety we expected.”
Ismail Yusuf, also of Pearl Street, told the Laudium Sun, “Crime is rapidly increasing in Laudium and I feel that as residents, we have failed to protect our own community. There are so many security companies operating in Laudium, yet despite that, we still experience frequent incidents of crime. It’s absolutely ridiculous. Our police and CPF and even the private security services have failed us. At this point, it feels like we’re on our own and no
one is coming to help. We need to start finding alternative ways to protect ourselves.”
