It seems that members of the Laudium CPF, especially the Chairperson, who some call a ‘dud chair,’ are more interested in posing in front of the camera with their ‘master’ Cllr Patel, while crime continues in the area.
Despite the CPF supposedly representing the community in its dealings with the police on issues of crime that concern the community, the CPF is not willing to keep the community informed of weekly crime stats or crime trends in the area. This follows yet more crimes reported to the Laudium Sun this week, for stats purposes, so that the community can at least be aware and where possible take the necessary precautions.
In one of the crimes reported, three black males pretending to be customers, stole a number of items from a business on Jewel Street, Laudium, including a ‘sun shade net’ and several cellphone chargers. The theft which took place last Friday evening, at around 7:30pm just before the business, ‘Spaza Africa’ was about to close for the day, has once more raised the question… what effort did the Laudium CPF make, in persuading the Laudium Police to increase police visibility and patrols in the area, which the community has been asking for, for such a long time?
Owner of ‘Spaza Africa’ Ali Wassim, told the Laudium Sun, “It was a normal day, like any other. We were operating as usual and it was almost closing time. Then, at around 7:30pm, three African guys walked into my shop, claiming they wanted to buy cigarettes. I asked them which brand they wanted, but they stayed silent. Two of them stood at the counter, while the third lingered near the entrance. It took them about 10 minutes to decide on the cigarettes and eventually, they bought one packet. About 15 minutes later, they left the shop. After they left, I noticed that about 10 of the mobile phone chargers we sell, were missing. I also realized the one of our ‘sun shade nets,’ which was on display, was gone too. At first, I thought maybe I had misplaced the items. I searched around the shop, but then realized that the only explanation was that those three guys had stolen the items. I firmly believe that they stole the items, resulting in a loss of nearly R5000. This incident has left me very shaken. We work so hard for our money and just like that, thieves take advantage of our kindness and steal from us. This crime must stop. We need better and more police patrols and protection for our businesses and our community.”
Mohammed Mansa, another resident of Jewel Street, complained to the Laudium Sun, “Crime in Laudium is absolutely terrible, and foreign-owned shops are always the main targets. It used to be bad, but now it’s even worse—it’s out of control. The Police have failed us, the Community Policing Forum (CPF) has failed us and most importantly, the local Council is not doing its job. Instead of protecting us with CCTV cameras, they’re more focused on finding ways to squeeze more money out of business owners—especially Pakistani businesspeople. This crime must stop. I believe the time has come for a massive protest in Laudium. We need to block every road and shut down the entire area until our voices are heard and real action is taken against crime.”
Yet another Jewel Str resident, Akbar Khan, told the Laudium Sun, “Almost every day, we hear about crimes taking place in our community and no one is doing anything about it. Why are the police not informing the community about it? How long are we supposed to keep tolerating all this? Do we also have to move out of Laudium like many of the wealthy residents have done? Of course, if we had the money to buy a nice apartment in a security estate, we would have moved too. But we’re just ordinary people living on bread and butter—we can’t afford to live in high-end areas outside Laudium. That’s why we need to work together to make Laudium a better place. I urge the community to look out for each other. Let’s fight this crime ourselves, because waiting for help from our so-called community leaders is useless.”