Not only does crime continue to affect local residents from all walks of life, but it is also affecting religious organisations, as more and more places of worship are being targeted by thieves, who show no respect for places of worship, but are rather committed to their belief that they are entitled to take from others, what does not belong to them.
Despite the Covid-19 curfew, thieves continue to freely prowl the streets of Laudium late at night, planning to attack their next soft target. Due to the slump in the economy, local religious institutes, including Mosques, Temples and Churches, not only have to deal with a drop in donations from their congregation, but also have to deal with the increase in crime.
In the latest incident reported to the Laudium Sun, greedy thieves broke into a Temple in Laudium Ext 2, last Sunday ((February 21), not only stealing a number of sacred items but damaging the place too. Dan Pillay, the caretaker who lives on site at the Pretoria Sanathan Ved Dharam Sabha (Vishnu Mandir), on 41st Ave, (behind Shell garage), told the Laudium Sun, “My normal morning routine on Sundays at the temple is to open the doors at 10am for devotees. However, before that time, I make sure that everything is in order, so I went inside the Temple at around 8:30, to prepare. When I opened the door, I was surprised to see a lamp diya (clay lamp) on the floor. I found it odd, but then I noticed bits of debris on the floor as well. That was very strange to me, as the floors are normally kept very clean and one won’t simply find anything on the floor. I still did not think that the place had been burgled as it never crossed my mind then, that thieves would actually enter a holy place and steal from it. But when I checked further, I realised how wrong I was. I noticed that they had broken the burglar guard of the window. It seems that these were young guys, to be able to come in from the window. As some of the items stolen were big, it seems that they left from the back door of the Mandir, as the lock was found broken. Amongst the items stolen were the podium, the brass that holds the light in our temple, 10 newly bought chairs, a gas bottle, speakers, glasses and a jug. I still cannot believe that these guys had no respect for a place of worship and disrespectfully entered it and then stole from it. I am shocked that crime in Laudium has reached such a high level. I live on the premises and found it strange that I did not hear anything that night, not even the dog barked I just hope the police will catch these thieves and retrieve the stolen items”.
Pranita Dawcharan, chairperson of the Pretoria Sanathan Ved Dharam Sabha, said, “It is very shameful what occurred in our temple, and we hope the police will work hard to recover our items. This is a place of worship. I find it really distasteful that someone can just come in and vandalize our temple and steal from it. Where is the respect for our places of worship? I would like to appeal to the community to contact us if they have seen someone selling our items that were stolen, or at least inform the police about it. This theft has set us back, as we have been collecting funds due to renovating the temple. Now we also have to collect funds to replace the stolen items. Any kind of assistance from the community will be appreciated.”
Sergeant Simon Chokoe of the Laudium SAPS, said, “The case of burglary at the 41st Avenue Temple has been reported and police are investigating. No arrests have been made yet. I urge the community to assist with any information they may have, to help get the items back.”
