Laudium

The original name for Laudium was Claudius, (originally reserved for White residents), named after Claudius Marais de Vries who owned a farm called Mooiplats and was a former mayor of Pretoria.

Laudium was created by the Apartheid government as part of their policy aimed at moving ethnic groups out of Marabastad and central Pretoria, which were zoned as 'White Areas' following the passage of the Group Areas Act. Laudium was proclaimed as an Indian township in 1961. As for its former inhabitants, older aerial photographs still show remains of circular type dwellings to the west of Laudium.

The eastern portion of the original Claudius retained its name and white population for a time, but the white population of Claudius has been displaced by Indians (it was eventually also declared an Indian area by the Apartheid government, to reduce housing shortages in Laudium), and Claudius had effectively become an extension of Laudium by 1980.

Claudius straddles the R55 (Quagga Road), and parts of Second Avenue, Third Avenue, and Cuprene Street technically are part of Claudius, along with Sunrise School , however this smaller part of Cladius, west of the R55 is often regarded as part of Laudium, with the R55 being commonly thought of as the dividing line.

Extensions 2 and 3 are hilly, and lie north of a railway line that linked the PPC dolomite quarry near Erasmia with Iscor's Pretoria Works. The railway line was abandoned by the mid-2000s, however, the railway right-of-way is still clearly visible, and it limits the road linkages between the upper and lower parts of Laudium to a bridge connecting Bengal Street to First Avenue, and a link between 19th Avenue and 33rd Avenue that was constructed in the early 1990s.

In 2012, Claudius east of the R55 had a wall and security gate system (road closure) installed, which residents have free access to as every resident paid a small portion of the cost of building the wall however, visitors have to fill out an entry/visitors book before entering, making it a gated community.

During 1981, an Umkhonto weSizwe rocket attack on the Voortrekkerhoogte (now Thaba Tshwane) military base was launched from Laudium.[2] The homes of local politicians who supported Apartheid were also bombed in the 1980s.

Although Laudium was initially part of Pretoria, it was incorporated into Centurion following the end of apartheid. Centurion, including Laudium, was incorporated into the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality in 2000.

Dolomitic sinkholes occasionally cause significant damage to property and streets in Laudium. The dolomite risk area extends southwards from the railway line. Decaying water, sewerage and storm-water infrastructure has seen a rise in sinkhole formations.

Laudium has a large number of Hindu and Muslim residents, with a large number of temples and mosques, the oldest temple being the Shree Pretoria Hindu Seva Samaj and mosque PMT Jumma Masjid in Jewel Street. Many of the Hindu residents are Gujarati (mostly from Gujarat) or Tamils (from South India). Many of the Muslim residents are Memons or Surtis. There are also many recent South Asian (Indian and Pakistani) residents, who immigrated to South Africa after the end of Apartheid. Probably due to its visible Muslim population, it is also a destination for many Muslim refugees from other African countries.

Laudium was a relatively wealthy area (which was unusual for a township), with very large mansions visible from the R55 road. However due the crime in the area many residents have abandoned the area for the safer greener southern or eastern gated communities in the suburbs of Centurion. Most of the large bungalows are subdivided and rented out to immigrants (Indian, Pakistani, Egyptians, Morrocans and Somalians). The area is in decline, mainly due to crime, unemployment and drugs.

An economically deprived[3] area of Laudium (described in an academic paper as a "ghetto"),[4] informally called White Blocks (named after their paint colour), with single and multi-family government-built dwelling units is situated in the western part of Laudium. However, the Indian township of Lotus Gardens was established in the early 1990s, north of Church Street, and many Indian families from White Blocks were relocated there, and some old units were torn down. Lotus Gardens developed into a multiracial suburb. White Blocks continues to exist though the units are no longer exclusively painted white. The Laudium Police Station is in White Blocks, in a converted unit.

Another public housing development, in Extension 2, consisting of council flats, was later sold to residents and is now called Himalaya Heights and Bangladesh Heights.

After the end of Apartheid, many residents of Laudium moved to the neighbouring (formerly whites-only) suburbs of Erasmia and Christoburg which lie directly south of Laudium, and, eventually, a link road was constructed, and later tarred, allowing for direct travel between the suburbs (previously, the only way to travel between Laudium and Erasmia was a circuitous route via the R55 and M26), and by the time of the 2001 Census, Indians made up almost 66% of the population of Erasmia and Christoburg, having largely displaced their white residents[5] in the preceding ten years. Significant numbers of more affluent Indian residents began relocating out of Laudium, to newly established nearby security estates in western Centurion in the late 2000s. Indians who reside in these areas often maintain religious, commercial and educational ties to Laudium itself.

The black township of Atteridgeville lies directly north of Laudium, although the two areas are separated by a series of hills, and no direct tarred road link exists between the two.

Laudium has 3 extensions which were completed in 1976, 1978 and 1983, respectively. Extension 1 consists of the western part of White Blocks, Extension 2 lies on the eastern portion of the hills north of the original suburb, and Extension 3 is west of Extension 2. The municipal Geographic Information System also lists and Extension 4, which is west of the suburb, and consists of non-residential land, including the Laudium Cemetery, the Laudium Stadium, Hindu Seva Samaj school, and Tshwane Muslim School.

A squatter camp established post-apartheid, called Itireleng lies to the west of Laudium.

Laudium has a large number of government schools. However, since the end of Apartheid, most Indian children from Laudium have begun attending newly established private religious schools, or schools in formerly white areas ("ex-model C schools" and private schools). While the government schools continue to be staffed mostly by Indian teachers, most of the pupils in these schools are black and commute daily from black townships.

The Laudium Hospital, a state hospital created under apartheid for Indians from Laudium and surrounding areas, closed down, and is now the Laudium Community Health Centre. This is controlled by the provincial department of health. Most if not all of the residents of the informal settlement (Itirileng) make use of the community health care centre. The clinic has been in the news a number of times for poor service to the community. Amongst the many complaints are that is X-Ray unit does not work for the last 20 years. Doctors should be on duty 24 hours a day. However after sunset the nurses on duty call a doctor in who arrives after a long time only to refer you to crumbling Kalafong hospital which has a terrible reputation. In addition to this medicine shortages are the norm. Hence most members of the community do not waste their time even visiting the health care centre and rather make use of private health care service providers. The facility is staffed mainly by foreign Cuban, Nigerian or Congolese doctors. In addition to the community healthcare centre a clinic operates at the heart in the CBD of Laudium which is a municipal clinic controlled by the municipality. This clinic offers primary healthcare. It has no beds and is strictly a day clinic. Laudium has a number of private medical practitioners and pharmacies. Laudium does not have a healthcare facility with radiological services (x-ray, CT scan, MRI or ultrasound).

Multiple religions are followed in Laudium. This includes Christianity, Hinduism and Islam

Laudium originally had shops with limited items. Most of the shopping was done outside of Laudium. Post 1994, possibly coinciding with the rise of new residents, the increase in formal and informal retail has been noticeable. Many residences around the CBD have been converted to commercial.

Prior to 1994, there were no sit-down restaurants in Laudium. The few that attempted, including Nawab's eventually closed down. As of 2017, there were at least five restaurants and a number of fast food franchise outlets. Almost all of the restaurants are foreign Pakistani, Indian or Bangladeshi restaurants. This is also reflected in the majority of businesses in Laudium which are by far foreign owned. Again this is a further reflection of the greater picture in the country in which the majority of small business in all suburbs, townships and metropolitan areas are foreign owned.

Laudium is served by the free, weekly Laudium Sun tabloid, and also has a previously Muslim-oriented radio which is now a community radio station called Radio 1584 International, which was off air for about 5 years. It was relaunched in May 2013, running on 1584 AM/MW[www.radio1584.co.za] frequency. Since the advent of social media and BBM, Whatsapp and Telegram; the Laudium Sun now offers a free WhatsApp service to the community with news as it happens, serving as the prime source of news to the community of Laudium. The Laudium BBM service which is a division of Laudium Today was also established and serves a free whatsapp service to the community as well.

• A description of Laudium
• Laudium Sun
• Laudium business directory, community, free classifieds