Whilst the intention of town planners in the early 1950’s and 1960’s, of having a number of parks in any huge residential development, such as Laudium, was to allow for open spaces where nearby residents could go with families to the parks and relax on the widespread green lawns with their picnic baskets, in a secured environment and meet friends, the current situation has certainly changed for the worse.
In today’s times, very few residents, if any, visit their nearby parks for a stroll with the kids or for a family picnic, as the chances of being robbed there and the parks being kept in a tidy and well maintained state, are but hopeful dreams. In fact, many residents are complaining that not only are the parks in the Laudium area a no go zone, as many criminals hang around there, but that the parks are being used by criminals to monitor the ins and outs of residents living nearby, and as such are becoming targets of criminals.
In one of the latest incidents of a home near a park being targeted by criminals, Andaal Pillay (70), a pensioner from Himalaya Street, described to the Laudium Sun, her scary ordeal last Saturday at around 9:00 in the morning, when she spotted three thieves in her yard. “As it was the weekend, we were just chilling and taking it easy at home, when all of a sudden I heard footsteps in the front part of the yard. We were not expecting any visitors, but the sound was very strange, so I immediately went out to check what was happening. Just as I stepped out from the door, I was shocked to see three guys in our yard. I was terrified! I quickly got back into the house and locked the door and then called our security company, ADT, that patrols our place. Within a few minutes, their patrol car was here. When these three thieves heard the patrol car arriving, they jumped over our back wall and made a getaway. I’m old now and could not do much to stop the thieves from running away. Laudium has become way too dangerous to live in. How can we live in constant fear like this? I’m just grateful that the security guys came in time, otherwise who knows what those criminals could have done to us in our own house. We have lived in Laudium for the most part of our lives, but it has never been so bad like it is now. We can’t even leave our car in the yard as these thieves will just jump over our gate and get in. Nothing deters them. The park opposite us is a big problem, as these thieves sit around there during the day and even at night, pretending to be relaxing in the park, but they are actually watching our movements. Now, even when we just see anyone sitting in the park and facing our house, we become really scared and think they are watching us. It could even be someone innocent, but that’s how paranoid we have become in this community. Although we called the police, they only came the following day. We don’t even see them doing patrols in our area. After about 40 years of living here, now is the time we are supposed to just take life easy as we have aged, but we can’t even live peacefully because of these criminals. Is this what democracy is supposed to be about?”
