Crime and more crime seems to be the order of the day for local residents, who live in fear each day. Although residents do not know who criminals prowling the streets of Laudium will target next, the one thing that is certain, is that just about anyone or any place in Laudium remains a target.
Be it a double storey home on 5th Ave, a Zozo on Primrose Str, the cemetery in Laudium, or the tuckshop on 13th Ave, or even the factory on 2nd Ave, thieves certainly have no prejudice, neither do they discriminate in this regard, treating all in Laudium as ‘fair game’. Thus, it is a norm for residents to constantly be on edge, as they go to the shops during the day or even remain home at night. Even when sleeping, residents cannot do so peacefully, as if strange sounds during the night awaken them, they do not know if it’s a burglar or a cat running in the yard, given that so many crimes are committed during the early hours of the morning, despite a curfew being in place. This is what a local resident from 11th Ave discovered recently, when she woke up during the early hours of the morning, after hearing a strange noise. Suma Parmar, told the Laudium Sun of the incident that took place last Friday. “At about 2:00am in the early morning of Friday, we were all asleep, when I suddenly awoke after hearing a strange noise coming from outside. I did not want to wake anyone up, and was scared to go out and check for myself, because I felt it was too dangerous to go outside, as we hear about all the crime in Laudium taking place, especially during curfew hours. But, I did not hear any strange sound again, so I thought it could have been a cat or something similar in the yard. I then fell asleep again. But, to my surprise, in the morning, at around 7:00am as I was preparing to go to work, when I went to my car, a light Blue Opera Meriva, it just did not want to start. I then opened the bonnet to check if the car battery terminal could have been loose, but to my shock, there was no battery, it was missing, just gone! Whoever stole the battery also damaged my car’s radiator and water bottle. I think it was probably at the time they forced opened the bonnet. So, besides having to spend money replacing the battery, I had to also fork out money to fix the radiator. This has really set us back, as we were saving to go on vacation, during the upcoming holidays. These thieves have absolutely no compassion for us. We are struggling to make ends meet, with the cost of living only going up and up. Later, my neighbor told me that at around 2:00 am that Friday morning, he saw two guys jumping from my house wall to his and then running away toward Pearl Str. I then realized maybe that’s when I heard the strange sound, as the thieves were busy stealing from my car. The police really need to raid those guys in White Blocks, who are often mentioned as the buyers of stolen goods and who are sending these nyaopes to come and steal from us. Laudium is certainly not a good place in which to live anymore, as there is no longer law and order, but only corruption, which is the order of the day.”
