While many members of the Laudium CPF seemingly more occupied with escorting ANC Ward Councillor Patel as he moves around ‘scared’ in his own Ward, crime in the area continues.
Clearly the current Laudium CPF, under Shaheen Wahab, has failed the community as residents seem to be more in fear about crime, even taking drastic measures of closing streets in their respective neighbourhoods (at their own cost) with the hope of keeping criminals away. Despite the local CPF hiding daily or weekly crime stats, the Laudium Sun receives from time to time, some information of crime happenings in the Laudium area from concerned residents, for stats purposes, so that residents are kept informed and warned. In one of the recent incidents of crime reported to the Laudium Sun for stats purposes, a resident of Delhi Ave, in Laudium Ext 3, who used his savings to buy a small food outlet business a week before, for his unemployed daughter, is distraught after thieves broke into the food trailer, vandalising the property and stealing a number of items. The crime which took place on a Sunday night shortly before midnight, has ruined the resident financially as expensive catering equipment was stolen from the food trailer. Pat Maluleke, of Delhi Ave the owner of the food trailer which operated under the name of, ‘The Kota Nest’ on Ahimsa Crescent told the Laudium Sun, “I’m still traumatized and in pain about ‘The Kota Nest’, where thieves broke into the food trailer which was stationed near our home on Ahimsa Crescent and stole many things from it. I bought ‘The Kota Nest’ for my daughter just a week back, as she was not doing anything and is unemployed. She graduated six years ago with a BTech in Logistics, but due to the high unemployment rate in this country, I decided to buy her the food trailer, so that she could run it and cover her pocket expenses. But, I forgot that we are living in this town Laudium and in a country where criminals are given more privileges than a graduate.”
Pat added, “On Monday morning, when my daughter enthusiastically went to open the mobile food restaurant near our home she was shocked to find that the food trailer had been broken into and there was nothing left inside. All the equipment was gone and the trailer was even damaged. Frantically asking around in the neighbourhood if anyone saw anything or anyone suspicious, she learned that the theft could possibly have occurred at around 11pm on Sunday night. A neighbouring spaza shop owner told her that he heard some strange noise at around 11pm, but did not go out to check as he thought it was probably noises from some passing cars. These thieves must have come in a gang of between 3-4 or in a bakkie, to carry out all the equipment and stock that was in the kiosk trailer. They stole everything that was inside the trailer, including a 19kg gas bottle, food warmers, utensils, an airfryer and a table. They broke in through the front door, broke the lock damaged the trailer and stole everything. Crime in Laudium is really getting from bad to worse. We moved to Laudium 22 years ago, and back then, we can say it was a peaceful place with very low crime. But now, Laudium has become a crime hotspot, and we don’t want to live here anymore. That is why neighbourhoods are putting up street gates everywhere, as crime is now out of control around here. There is a street gate on Delhi Avenue, but due to negligence and poor maintenance by the community members responsible for the gate, it was left open. This is the main reason why thieves from Itireleng can easily enter Laudium, as there is no one to close the gate, and there are no security guards, as it is very costly. There seems to be no proper plan by the police to curb crime in
Laudium. It is very worrisome.”
Delhi Ave resident, Maya Pema told the Laudium Sun: “The crime rate in Laudium is very high. My husband passed away a few years ago because of these horrible criminals who hit him on the head. My husband collapsed and died. Crime is just not stopping in Laudium. Every day there is crime happening in Laudium, which many people do not even know about. This crime must stop. We need more patrollers in our area.”
Abdullah Shahid, the owner of a spaza shop on Ahimsa Crescent, told the Laudium Sun:
“I heard some noises at around 11pm on Sunday night, but I ignored it because there are a lot of cars that pass on our street, so I thought it was just some car noises. But when I woke up on Monday and heard that thieves had broken into ‘The Kota Nest,’ I figured what had happened. The crime in Laudium is very bad and the community must stand together to do something to prevent it.”
