Crime and grime are the order of the day in Laudium, which is causing the area to slide into a place of shameful decay.
Despite residents complaining about the failing service delivery, politicians who have the authority to make a difference, are clearly turning a blind eye. Instead they will respond without shame, but only during election time, by using phrases such as,”the people shall govern” and “we care for our people”, which are unfortunately just mere slogans, as the reality is that the very same politicians care more for themselves and their pockets and ignore the ‘people,’ once in office. Residents are often reminded by politicians to log complaints of poor service delivery onto the various council or government portals or websites, but when residents do exactly that, the complaints are seemingly just ignored. The ongoing problem of street lights not working on Jet Street is a classical example of a ‘don’t care attitude’ from officials and politicians. Residents have been complaining for weeks about the streetlights not working, and say that they are now living in fear as crime has increased in the area and they are constantly hounded by nyaopes from the opposite park, who are taking advantage of the darkness. This past Monday, residents of Jet Street again complained to the Laudium Sun, about the street lights not working and even the flood lights in the park being dysfunctional.
One of the frustrated residents, Kamran Muhamad, told the Laudium Sun, “We, the residents of Jet Street, would like to draw your attention to the poor service we receive from the municipality and the politicians One of the houses in the neighborhood was broken into last week. In another incident some thieves went into the yard of another home and stole gas tanks and other equipment. Then, thieves stole all the washing from the yard of one of the houses and broke the locks and windows thereafter. They then jumped into my neighbor’s yard to get in from the back door and broke another gate lock but couldn’t get through the door. I messaged our Councillor’s office about 10 times and they responded that they would try to do something about it. For us, this issue of crime due to the street and park lights not working in the area, is very serious, even if they do not think so. The Jet Street Park has become a sleeping dump site for the nyaopes and those in charge are doing nothing about it. We are in serious danger and the community needs to stand together so that we can get rid of all this crime around our area.”
Carrim Noormohamed of Jet Street, told the Laudium Sun, “The street lights and the flood lights in the park have not been working for some time now. The park is full of undesirable elements and nyaopes who are basically living there and causing a nuisance to us residents. These guys are even cutting the branches of the trees in order to make fires at night. We cannot go on living like this. Even during the late night we often hear shouting and screaming. Why can’t the police take action against these guys in the park? It seems like we are only taken seriously during election time and thereafter we, as ordinary people, are forgotten.”
Shakeel Bhaktawar from the Ward Councillor’s office said, “Residents from Jet Street have been coming to our office and calling us, with regards to many issues concerning the park and surrounds. The vagrants in the park were removed last month in an operation, together with the local SAPS. However, there has not been a follow up and these vagrants have returned. We have now escalated the matter to the Council’s Parks Department to intervene. Regarding the street lights around the area not working, we have made numerous requests for repairs. It has been discovered that there is a major surge on the main line causing the street lights to trip. We are now waiting for the city’s team to get parts approval to replace and repair. This is the same situation with many other streets which have similar street light issues.”
