Crime continues to be a problem for Laudium residents, with petty crime, apparently committed by many of the nyaopes freely roaming the streets of Laudium, remaining a huge headache for locals. Slowly but surely, local residents are, on an almost daily basis, seeing ‘small’ items being stolen from their yards and even the streets.
Laudium is being stripped by thieves, many of whom the residents believe are nyaopes who are responsible for these so called petty crimes, in order to maintain their drug habits. Despite calls by residents for police to act pro-actively and do stop and searches on the streets of Laudium, the nyaopes responsible for the crimes, continue to walk the streets of Laudium freely and more so even harass locals for money. Residents have also been calling on police to do searches on the homes of those buying the stolen items, but clearly police do not seem to be interested.
In a recent incident of yet another drain cover being stolen near a primary school, residents have once more called on the council and the police to act swiftly against the perpetrators, more so as the open manhole poses a serious threat of life or even injury, to children and adults walking near the area. Resident Jigdee Padayachy of 15th Ave, told the Laudium Sun, “Last Sunday afternoon whilst taking a walk down to one of my friends on Emerald Street, I noticed that a municipality drain cover was missing from one of the drains near my house, at the corner of 15th Ave and Emerald Street. When I went to the open drain hole, I noticed it was quite deep and also wide and not only could a child easily fall in, but also adults walking nearby, especially at night. To add to my concern, the primary school is a few metres away and kids wait for their transport right in front of the open drain. As you know, kids will remain kids and play and run all the time, so one of them is bound to fall into the drain and not only could the child get injured but, God forbid, the result could be fatal. We are tired of all these thefts carrying on, on a daily basis with no end in sight to this criminal activity. I strongly believe that it is some of these nyaope guys who are stealing the drain covers, copper pipes, taps and much more and are causing harm to us old people and to our children. I’m asking the council nicely to please make sure that the drains are sealed so the covers can’t easily be stolen. What I don’t understand is that these drain covers are so heavy and they require two people to carry it, so how come no one saw the thieves taking the cover away?”
Deputy Principal of the nearby Laudium Primary No 3 School, Murali Padayachy, told the Laudium Sun, “We are concerned with the open drain, as many of our kids frequent that area. We will arrange for the area to be taped and keep one of our teachers there when the school kids come out, to make sure the learners do not go anywhere near the open drain. We also call on the council to urgently have the drain cover replaced.”
