Despite calls from many Laudium residents, urging authorities to tackle the crime and grime in the area, the once neat and proudly talked about suburb, is slowly sliding into a state of decay. The police (SAPS) clearly are seemingly not interested in stopping crime in the area, not even the growing petty crime, with some of those nyaopes involved, freely walking the streets of Laudium and simply stealing anything that they can get their hands on, even of little value, just in order to buy their habitual drugs.
Also, the Metro Police, who are responsible for ensuring that council owned properties are safe and by-laws adhered to, are seemingly not interested in ensuring that Laudium remains free of grime. The theft of council fencing and drain covers, illegal rubbish dumping and even spiraling illegal businesses from residential homes, loud noises from shebeens, etc, are just some of the common complaints of residents, but are blatantly ignored by officials. Unfortunately, the Metro Police are mostly only known to come into the area and stop motorists for misdemeanors, and collect bribes instead of issuing fines. The decay in the area, which is very evident, has resulted in many residents, who have lived in Laudium for years, selling their homes at a nominal price then moving to private security estates, paying much more for property there.
Ward Councillor, Naeem Patel, has called on residents to take charge of their area and has supported initiatives such as the recently formed interim ‘Residents Association.’ Naeem said, “Whilst many of the problems we have in Laudium concerning crime and grime rest with the authorities, we, as a community, must also take responsibility, regarding illegal electricity connections, dumping, businesses trading from homes without consent from the council, etc.”
This follows a recent ‘caught in the act’ illegal dumping taking place. During a visit to Itireleng by the Laudium Sun, to meet Cllr Patel and the granny of the late young Prince (8) who was electrocuted by illegal electrical connections in the area, we witnessed a truck owned by a Laudium resident, dumping dirt at the entrance of Itireleng. Our reporting team met Councillor Patel at the entrance of Itireleng this past Tuesday (April 5) at around 3:45pm. Just as they were about to drive into Itireleng, they noticed a white Dyna truck, parked some distance away. The reporting crew and Naeem decided to “check out” what the truck was doing there, only to discover that the truck was illegally dumping building rubble at the doorstep of Itireleng. It was revealed to the reporting team, by the driver of the truck, that the owner of the vehicle, was Anan Moodley, from 19th Ave, Laudium. According to some of the residents from Itireleng, the same truck was seen offloading rubbish a few times in the area.
A hawker at the entrance of Itireleng, who only gave her name as ‘Maggie’, told the Laudium Sun, “Many of these guys often come from Laudium and dump their rubbish right in front of where we are selling our things. We have asked them a few times not to dump where we are selling, but they do not listen to us. Sometimes these people also dump rubbish that smells very bad, and we then have to move and it affects our business.”
Cllr Patel added, “I witnessed this illegal dumping at the entrance of Itireleng and was told by the driver that the truck belonged to a resident from Laudium. It is unacceptable that people show disregard for the environment and pose health hazards to the community, by dumping dirt in the area. I call on the community to immediately report any illegal dumping to the council and my office, so that I can get the Metro Police to act.”
The Laudium Sun requests residents who have photos of illegal dumping to send these to our WhatsApp, +27 60 786 7862 or email to, info@nismedia.co.za.
*Attempts to get hold of Anan Moodley for a comment were unsuccessful. The Laudium Sun left a message at his home for him to call us, but at the time of going to press no response had been received.
