While residents continue to be highly anxious due to the increasing crime in the area, especially serious crime, the Laudium CPF under Zahid ul-Zama, who is also the chairperson of the South African Pakistan Association, seems to have no plan nor is interested in implementing a plan together with the local police, regarding how to improve policing in the area.
Even ANC Cllr Naeem Patel, who is part of the Exco of the CPF and a member of the ANC PCO office, is seemingly more interested in promoting himself on social media, instead of assisting in the fight against crime. This as local victims of crime, including women and children, continue to face traumatic experiences, after being attacked by thugs.
In one of such incidents reported to the Laudium Sun recently, a local mum and her two young children were abducted by armed Black thugs, while waiting in their vehicle, for her husband. The traumatic incident, which took place last Wednesday evening (July 22) at around 7pm outside the family home on Orissa Avenue, in Laudium Ext 3, resulted in the gang of four thugs splitting, with two thugs accosting the woman and her children, while the other two attacked her husband, who was about to leave his house to get into the idling vehicle, where his family was waiting. The thugs who drove the family vehicle with the mother and her two kids inside, drove to the nearby Itireleng informal settlement, where the family was held captive for a while and then robbed, followed by being pushed out of the vehicle, after which the thugs drove away with the white Ford Ranger.
Mpho Ramafalo, the victim and resident of Orissa Avenue, told the Laudium Sun, “It was one of the most horrific days for my family. My husband Elvis parked his white Ford Ranger in front of our house at around 7pm, as we were about to go out for dinner that night. My two kids, one boy, who is 7 years old and a girl who is 5 years old and myself went into the car, while my husband was locking the doors of the house. My two children had already got into the back seat of the vehicle and I was seated in the front passenger seat, waiting for my husband to come. Suddenly, from nowhere, four Black thugs who seemingly came by foot approached us. I think two of them were foreigners and the other two were South African. Immediately, two of the thugs pointed guns at me and my kids and the two other thugs ran towards our house and pointed a gun at my husband, as he was about to leave the house. The two thugs near us warned me to keep silent, with one thug sitting on the driver side and the other thug sitting with a gun still in his hand, behind me at the back seat with my children, pointing his gun towards me and my children. My children were screaming out loud and I was terrified too. The thug sitting in front then drove us towards the Itireleng side and stopped in a bush area near the Vibro Cement factory. It was dark and my poor husband was held captive inside the house with the other two thugs, so he was helpless and was not able to do anything when the other two thugs abducted us. We spent almost 15 minutes there and I pleaded with the thugs to release us as my children were hysterical and terrified. The thugs then demanded that I hand over all valuables on me and money. I had R2,100 cash in my wallet, my driving licence, my ID card and my sunglasses. The thugs then made us get out from the vehicle and drove away with our vehicle and our belongings in it. My two small children and I were left alone in the dark bush and it was really scary. Thankfully, with the help of some locals, we managed to get home. When I got home, I found that the other two thugs had beaten my husband and stolen his two cellphones, one Oppo and one Stylo phone and then made a getaway from the back part of our house. We immediately reported our ordeal to the SAPS. At the same time our car tracking company called us, informing us that our car was still in Itireleng and they assisted in recovering our car. This whole incident felt like a horror movie and honestly I believed that we were going to die that night. This is one of the most terrible experiences that we have ever had. If I talk about crime in my area, it is really bad and I must say that most of the crime and criminals are coming from Itireleng. We urge Councillor Naeem Patel to come up with a permanent solution to close the gap between Itireleng and Laudium, as there are two or three entrances between Bengal Street and Laudium. If the Council can work on some solution to close it, then I believe the crime will be less, or else the crime will continue like this forever.”
Husband of Mpho, Elvis Maredi, told the Laudium Sun, “This was the worst experience for me and my family. I don’t want to even think about what happened to us on that night. It was really scary and we are still recovering from the trauma that we had to endure, especially our small kids. Can you imagine what they went through with this horrific crime experience that we had? I am glad that we, as a family, are safe and we got our vehicle back, but it is not only about that. It is about how can we be expected, as a community, to live in this kind of violent environment. We always read about crime in the Laudium Sun, but it only hits home, when you and your family experience the trauma yourself. Residents of Orissa Ave, Bengal Street and the surroundings who live nearby some of these disgusting criminals from Itireleng, are sleeping each night in fear. That’s not how families should live. I literally cannot bear these criminals that come from the Itireleng squatter camp. Almost each and every day, we as residents in the area feel like it is the end of our lives, because criminals keep on targeting our streets. It is just not safe at all here. It is high time that the police stop taking their job as a joke and do something meaningful to protect the community. We want to see the Laudium Police and the CPF Patrollers, patrolling in our area often and not just once in a blue moon. We are really tired with the failing policing system here and many of us do not want to stay any longer in this horrible crime infested place. Something serious must be done by the Ward Councillor, the CPF and the Police, to protect residents, because we are living in fear every single day. Families are no longer at peace and even simple things like stepping out of the house have become stressful. I must thank PAJ Security for their involvement in this matter. They are more reliable and react faster than the police. Even though we are not paying monthly subscriptions to them, they still come out and help, whenever we call them. A huge thank you to Prajay and his team for making an effort for the community. Other than that, most of the organisations like the Ward
Committee, Residents Association, CPF Community Patrollers and the local police are useless and good for nothing. If nothing is done about crime, the situation will only get worse and more families will suffer like we did. We cannot continue living like this and something needs to change urgently for the safety of everyone in the area.”
hijacking was the worst experience
for him and his family.
Elaine Meide of Bengal Street, Laudium, told the Laudium Sun, “I heard about the robbery and abduction that took place in our area. The crime situation is really bad, especially with even the kids being abducted. These criminals have no shame at all when they even terrify small children like that. It is very disturbing to hear what families are going through in our community and it makes everyone feel unsafe. Laudium is literally going out of control and
the situation is getting worse day by day. People are living in fear and the little that we read about crime in the Laudium Sun is already scary. I cannot imagine how much more crime is happening in the area, that we do not know about. It is not something we can ignore anymore because it is affecting everyone, especially innocent children who should be feeling safe in their own homes. There is too much politicking going on with our leadership that is why this crime will continue because we are not united. We need urgent action before things get worse.”
Pr Cllr, Prajay Ramjee, told the Laudium Sun, “The PAJ 247 Control Room was notified of a hijacking on Orissa Ave. We rushed to the scene. We were told that a mother and 2 children were taken. We then spoke to the tracking company and we were sent the location of the vehicle in Itireleng. With the help of other security patrollers the vehicle was then recovered. While in the area, we heard that the family made their way back and were safe. From the many hijacking incidents that we have responded to, we see that most of the time, these criminals do not want the vehicle. They take the occupants and try to extort money from them. Sometimes, if the vehicle does not have an active tracker, the vehicle is not found as it is dumped into the bush. The victims often get thrown into a hole and we found one such hole close to where the vehicle in this case was found, but there seem to be a number of these holes. We, at PAJ Community Patrollers, intend to improve safety in the area by adding intelligent cameras. I advise motorists to always be vigilant, especially in dark areas. Do not leave your vehicle running to open gates or to dash into the house. The modus operandi that I have noticed is 3 suspects creeping close to the vehicle in the dark, threatening the driver with a firearm, pulling them into the back seat, and driving away. It appears that the perpetrators often come by foot from the nearby squatter camp. However, there have been times when victims told us that they saw another vehicle accompanying the vehicle hijacked. Unfortunately, the extension 3 area is very dark due to many defective streetlights. If it were up to me, I would prioritise dangerous, high-risk streets, with high mast flood lights. We need a dedicated team from the Council to give priority in attending to faulty streetlights. Residents need to unite against crime and hold those in charge accountable.”
