Just when will the local police start performing their duties effectively to protect and serve the community, so that residents can go about doing their chores without fear and sleep peacefully at night?
Each week the Laudium Sun is unfortunately the bearer of news of crime that has occurred in the area and each week there are appeals from the community for police to increase visible patrols in the area, but alas these appeals are just ignored.
This past week, as in the many weeks previously, the Laudium Sun has once again received reports of crime in the Laudium area, much to the frustration of the community, which is more than fed-up with Laudium being an unsafe place to live in. Crime in the area has been affecting all sectors of the community, from businesses to religious institutions to residents and learning institutions. The beginning of this week saw an entire school being affected by crime.
This follows Laudium’s first primary school, the Andrew Anthony Primary School, on 13th Ave, being plunged into darkness, on Monday (Sept 12) after thieves stripped cables from a nearby electrical sub-station, causing houses in the area to also be in darkness. It is believed that the cables were stolen over the weekend and during load shedding time. Angry parents who called the Laudium Sun about the school being in darkness, first assumed that the cause was related to the school not paying the electricity bill to the municipality on time, which resulted in a cut by the Council.
However, school Principal Reena Bhagirathy explained to the Laudium Sun what transpired on Monday morning, “On Monday morning when I got to school early, I noticed that there was no electricity. Together with some staff members, we walked around the school to see what was happening, but everything looked fine. Although I was aware that the area was not due for load shedding at that time, I asked one of the HOD’s to find out if perhaps there had been a change in schedule by Eskom, as that happens so often. But she came back to inform me that it was not loadshedding as she checked with someone else living a few blocks away in Laudium, who had lights. We then checked the internal electrical mains box, to see if the switches might have tripped, but all the switches were still up. We then called the Councillor’s office and Shakeel Bhaktawar told us that there must be something else wrong, but that he would come immediately to assist us. When Shakeel arrived, he went directly to the electrical mini substation, which is on 13th Ave and found that the cables were snapped and the substation had been vandalized. We were so surprised that even the substation which has electric voltage, was a target of thieves.”
Yasmeen Omar who lives near the school, on Jacinth Street, told the Laudium Sun, “It’s not the first time that the mini substation has been vandalized, in fact it was it is now the second time in a short space of time that this is happening. This affects everyone around the area including the school and people who have businesses like myself, who sell milk and other perishables. I have lost money as I had to throw away a lot of stuff because of the fridges not working due to the cable theft.”
Shakeel Bhaktawar from the Councillor’s office, told the Laudium Sun, “Andrew Anthony School and the houses around plunged into darkness due to tampering at the nearby electrical sub-station. Load shedding has again given room for sabotage. I was called by the principal of the school about the school’s electric outage. When we arrived, we found the school’s electrician and security outside. We went to the mini substation outside the school and on inspection, we found that the box had been vandalized and cables stolen. This was clearly done during load shedding time, otherwise whoever was behind the theft would have been electrocuted. Unfortunately no one in the area witnessed the theft or saw anyone strange hanging around near the substation. This was the 3rd cable theft incident reported for the weekend. The area is once again a soft target for cable theft.”
