Businesses in the Laudium area, continue to face hardship due to the impact of lockdowns, caused by Covid-19 and the high crime in the area, which continues unabated. Despite calls to the police to beef up patrols in the area, there is virtually no visible policing deterring criminals to keep away from the area. Ironically, the time when streets are supposed to be the safest, during curfew, between 9pm-4am, when no person is allowed outdoors without a valid reason, is the time when most of the crimes are seemingly being committed in the area. Businesses in the area are now calling for the army to intervene, to stop the looting of shops by these thieves, as police seemingly do not have the capability to do so.
The attack by criminals, on local businesses follows yet another incident of a break-in into a business. This time, a business on Salmon Street was broken into during the hours of last Thursday night (July 9) and early Friday morning. Fuad Nuru, an Ethiopian national and owner of a recently opened business, Iman Supermarket, told the Laudium Sun, “When I arrived on Friday morning to open my store, I found my shop was locked as usual. But something was wrong, I just had a bad feeling. When I opened the shop, my feelings proved to be justified. I was shocked to find that my shop had been broken into and that many items had been stolen after it was ransacked. I was surprised and confused as to how the thieves got into the store, as the front and back doors were locked. But then, when I looked up at the ceiling, I saw that thieves had come into the shop from the roof and cut the ceiling. They stole a lot of goods which showed that it was not the work of only one person. They must have spent a lot of time in the shop as they went through everything and took it all through the roof. I had just bought new stock of cigarettes which were all stolen by the thieves. They even took the stock on my shelves, which included body spray, perfumes, sugar, soap, sweets and food items. I just opened my shop about a month ago, but now this terrible incident happened. I am not rich and I opened the shop with my life savings, just so I can make an honest living to support my family. I do not have money to replace the stolen stock, so now my business is really struggling and I cannot even cover my expenses. These thieves do not care about us small businesses. They are the same as those who looted from the businesses in KZN and some parts of Gauteng last week. Businesses in Laudium, have for long, been target by looters, only in a different way. This is very discouraging to small businesses in the area. They looted my shop and got away with it. There is no law and order in Laudium. Maybe we should also get the army here as the police are not capable of fighting crime in this area. I am sure other businesses will agree with me.”
Sergeant Simon Chokoe, of the Laudium SAPS, said, “A case of burglary has been opened and police are following leads. I urge the community not to buy any items that are suspected to be stolen and have no receipts. This will discourage the culprits.”
