There clearly does not seem to be any interest by the local police and other government departments, including the local council, to address the growing influx of unemployed people coming into Laudium, seeking money or food to feed their families and themselves.
This influx is of great concern to the community as some of these unemployed people are constantly harassing residents for money and more so, are even resorting to stealing from the very ‘hand that feeds them’. The worrisome part is that many of the unemployed who freely walk the streets of Laudium, have turned to drugs. More commonly known as nyaopes, these people are stealing any items they can get their hands on, including taps, copper pipes, outdoor light fittings and electric cables, as long as they can sell it for a few rand in order to buy drugs. Despite pleas from the community, there is very little if anything being done by the authorities, especially the police, to curb the crime committed by some of these nyaopes.
In the latest incident of crime believed to be committed by nyaopes, a Bengal Street crèche, (near Delhi Ave) was targeted this past Monday (Feb 21) whereby water copper pipes were ripped out and stolen. Owner of the crèche, ‘Wonderful Kids,’ Yvonne Kahlamba, who lives as a tenant at the back of the crèche, told the Laudium Sun, “It was around around 6:30am on Monday morning, when I went to the front house, which I rent and also from where I run my pre-school. I started getting everything ready before the kids came. My teachers then arrived and started preparing the kids’ breakfast and I went out to open the main taps to the front house. We close these taps every afternoon when we finish, as a routine, in case there is a leak there at night as there is no one on the premises after hours. Everything seemed normal when I opened the mains tap, but a little later when one of my teachers went to use the toilet, she found that there was no water when she tried flushing, so she called me. I was surprised and could not understand what the problem was. A thought crossed my mind that perhaps it was a municipal issue, but then I realized it could not be as we had water at the back section of the yard. I then took a walk on the side of the front house and was shocked to discover that the water meter was broken and that all the copper pipes from there were stolen. Strangely, I didn’t hear anything peculiar that night, because I live at the back of the property. I suspect that the thieves came during the early hours of the morning and I suspect they jumped over the devils fork fencing. They must have had a lot of time to have stolen so many copper pipes. These incidents of theft are getting out of hand and it costs money each time to fix. Besides, we could not hold our normal classes due to the kids being without water. I suspect that it is these nyaope boys who walk up and down our street trying to figure out what can they steal from us. I called the Laudium police and opened up a case.”
Sergeant Simon Chokoe of the Laudium police confirmed to the Laudium Sun that a case was opened, adding, “The matter is under investigation.”
