Clearly crime is of great concern to residents of Laudium and Erasmia, as reported thefts in the area have over the past few months, seen a significant shift towards a more serious nature than the usual petty crime with thefts of light fittings, garden taps and the like.
What many residents who have fallen victim to crime recently believe, is that their homes are being watched by some of those who freely walk the streets of Laudium, pretending to be looking for work or food, but are actually scouting the area and giving information to criminal syndicates. Residents have repeatedly stated that it is too much of a coincidence that their homes are burgled, or cars stolen within minutes of them leaving their premises.
Despite the concerns raised by frustrated residents, local police seem to have no intelligence capacity to probe such concerns and refuse to let the public know how they are dealing with the high crime in the area or how they are addressing the concerns of the community. In one of the latest incidents of crime brought to the attention of the Laudium Sun, a vehicle was stolen last Thursday evening (December 2) at around 8:30pm, outside a home on Cinnamon Street, Laudium, while the owner went for prayers to a nearby Mosque. Sirag Patel, the owner of the vehicle told the Laudium Sun, “At around 8:15 that night, I left for the evening prayer to the nearby Mosque. As I knew that I would not be long, I left my white Hyundai, a bakkie, which has no canopy, parked in the front of my house on the drive way. This was not the first time that the bakkie was parked in the front of the yard and I never had problems before, so I was not worried at all. However, when I came back from prayers, I was shocked to notice that my bakkie was not there. I almost fainted! I just could not believe it. I must have been gone for just about half hour. I think these thieves or someone on their behalf was watching me when I left my house, as for the past week, I was leaving my home at about the same time and walking to the Mosque which is nearby. It is very alarming that we are no longer safe in Laudium. We are not even relaxed at home any longer, because we are so fearful of being attacked by brazen criminals. Now we can’t even go to worship at the Mosque, because we are fearful of what may happen at home whilst we are gone, even for a short while. These thieves will not even let us pray in peace. What kind of a community has this become? To be honest, Laudium is no longer a place to live in. You can’t even leave small things outside and they get stolen. These greedy thieves just want to live off our blood. I hope the police will do their job and find the culprits. There is definitely a need for police visibility and stop & search operations, on our streets, especially as we are near Cuprene Street, which is the gateway of these criminals. The police must constantly be patrolling this area.”
Sergeant Simon Chokoe, of the Laudium SAPS, said, “A case of theft of a motor vehicle has been opened and police are investigating. No arrests have been made yet. It takes only a few minutes to steal a vehicle. Car thieves often scout parking areas at shopping centres, and standalone smaller businesses, residential areas, schools and churches for the type of vehicle they want to steal. All parked vehicles inside yards or garages must be locked. Residents are urged to not only park their own vehicles inside their yards but to also invite their visitors to park inside. Criminals are deterred when vehicles are parked in safe spots that are clearly visible to the owner.”
