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The country started planning for a safe and
secure World Cup four years ago, and it is prepared for any eventuality.
SOUTH Africa is well prepared to deal with
any eventuality during the hosting of the prestigious 2010 FIFA World Cup™,
which runs from 11 June to 11 July.
Joburg is counting down
This is the assurance given by the chief
executive of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa (OC), Danny
Jordaan, who was addressing concerns raised following the attack on the Togo
team buses in Cabinda, in Angola, on 8 January, days before the African Cup of
Nations began in that country.
This incident, Jordaan pointed out, happened
hundreds of kilometres away from South Africa. There could be no comparison
between Angola and South Africa: "If something happens in one country in
Africa, we cannot condemn the whole of Africa ... What happened in Angola has
absolutely nothing to do with South Africa and nothing to do with the World
Cup."
Joburg matches
That country was a three-and-a-half hours' flight from Johannesburg, he pointed
out.
Johannesburg is one of the main host cities
of the World Cup, with its massive new stadium, Soccer City, on the outskirts
of Soweto, hosting the opening ceremony and the first and final matches. It has
another match venue, Ellis Park Stadium on the eastern edge of the CBD, as well
as several training venues - Orlando, Dobsonville, Rand and Ruimsig stadiums -
all of which have been revamped for the tournament.
Speaking towards the end of last year,
shortly after the final draw on 4 December 2009, Christa Venter, the City's
2010 operations director, said that three teams had confirmed they would be
staying in Johannesburg during the competition: Netherlands, Mexico and
Australia.
"The three teams have confirmed their
base camps but there may be more who are still to decide to stay in the city
for the duration of the World Cup."
Soccer City and Ellis Park will host 15 of
the 64 matches of the competition; 10 of the 15 matches will be in the group
stages. Over and above the group matches, the 88 000-seat Soccer City will
host one match in Round 16, one quarterfinal and the final match. Ellis Park,
on the other hand, will host one match in Round 16 and a quarterfinal.
Inside Soccer City
Approximately 400 000 international
football fans are expected to descend on South Africa with a large chunk coming
to Johannesburg for the 15 matches.
Prepared
Even though what happened in Angola, a sovereign independent country, was
unfortunate and tragic, South Africa was well prepared to deal with any
eventualities, Jordaan said.
"The South African government has invested
R1,3-billion in security during the World Cup. We are very comfortable that we
will deliver a successful and secure [event]."
On top of this, the country had held
successful major events - 147 in total - since 1994 with no major incident, he
pointed out. These included the 1995 Rugby World Cup,
the 1996 African Nations Cup, the 1999 All Africa Games, the 2003 ICC Cricket
World Cup and the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2009.
"Currently we are hosting the English
cricket team. This team has not questioned South Africa's security. We have
hosted Japan and the South Korean football teams and these teams have not
questioned security in the country," said Jordaan.
Sergeant General Veejay Ramlakan from the
South African National Defence Force confirmed that the country had started
planning for a safe and secure World Cup four years ago.
"Without any shadow of doubt, the event is
going to be safe. We have benchmarked ourselves with Japan, Korea and Germany [hosts
of the last two World Cups] and our security confidence is higher than that of
all these countries," he said.
The fact that one of the injured Togolese
players was flown to Johannesburg for medical treatment spoke volumes for the
country's ability to provide world-class services.
"Health care and safety provision for the
World Cup will be of the highest quality with 2 500 people working
fulltime at host stadiums, public viewing places and airports," said Ramlakan.
Chief executive of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa (OC), Danny Jordaan
The South African government, which is
responsible for general security during the tournament, is well-advanced in its
preparations for the event.
Police
The South African Police Service (SAPS) will spend R640-million to deploy
officers specifically for it. Event-specific training for this force is under way
and simulated exercises have been held to great effect.
In addition, the SAPS will increase the
number of officers by 55 000 to bring its total force to 200 000. The
vast majority deployed for the World Cup will be well-trained officers with
experience in major events and crowd management.
Approximately R655-million will be spent in
procuring specialised equipment, including crowd control equipment, command
vehicles, additional helicopters, specialised body armour, high-tech bomb
disabling equipment and mobile cameras.
Each match venue will also boast a mobile
command centre featuring high-tech monitoring equipment, which will be able to
receive live footage from aeroplanes and other cameras.
Tickets
Jordaan said that with these security preparations in place, the major concerns
should be ticket sales.
"We are concerned that the South African
team is not selling tickets in what has become the norm in previous World Cups.
It is unfortunate that the host team is not even in the top 10 of the best-selling
teams. This is our concern," he said.
Tickets to follow specific teams opened
after the draw in December 2009. By buying these tickets, Bafana Bafana fans
will have access to conditional team specific tickets to follow the team through
the tournament from the opening match all the way to the final - obviously
subject to the team's progress.
Jordaan said: "We are confident that this
event will be one of the best [World Cups]."
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