Safety first
Following a week-long tour of four cities in South Africa, Inas Mazhar believes the country that will host next year's Confederations Cup and the 2010 World Cup is up to the mammoth task
Safety and security remain one of the most controversial issues and a challenge to South Africa as it aims to ensure a safe and secure World Cup.
Susan Shabagu, deputy minister of safety and security, has declared that South Africa is well-advanced in its plans to secure a safe 2009 Confederations Cup and 2010 World Cup by transforming the conceptual plans outlined in its security plan into action.
"The South African government is responsible for general security while venue security is the responsibility of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee (LOC)," confirmed Shabagu.
Shabagu was addressing a two-hour media briefing held at Ellis Park Stadium, attended by Susan Shabagu, deputy minister of safety and security, FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke, 2010 Local Organising Committee CEO Danny Jordan and Andres Pruis, deputy commissioner of South Africa Police Service SAPS, as well as FIFA Communications Director Hans Klaus.
"We, as a host country, have submitted a comprehensive security plan, which includes our approach to addressing terror threats, hooliganism and crime, to FIFA in June 2008," Shabagu said. "It has since been reviewed and endorsed by FIFA with the conclusion being that it builds a reassuring basis for security for the event. The job now is to transform the conceptual plans outlined in the security plan into action."
Shabagu said the operation plan had been divided into seven phases for easy planning and effective prioritisation. "We will start with the run-up phase which began in May 2004 and will end by mid-June 2009. The second phase is the Confederations Cup tournament itself in June 2009. The third phase is the pre-tournament phase of the 2010 World cup which starts from July 2009 till June 2010. The opening ceremony of the 2010 World Cup on 11 June represents the fourth phase. Phase five is the WC tournament which runs from 11 June to 11 July 2010. The final and closing ceremony of the event on 11 July represents phase six and seven."
Andres Pruis, deputy commissioner of SAPS, spoke of the government's preparations for safe and secure events. "The SAPS will spend around $64 million on the deployment of 41,000 officers especially for the event. This includes 31,000 permanent members and 10,000 police reservists. Recruitment and event specific training for this force is under way. This includes an intensive train-the- trainer crowd control management programme presented by the French national police force. The 120 SAPS members that attended the course will now be tasked with training 9,000 of their colleagues in crowd control management ahead of the World Cup.
"The SAPS is on a massive recruitment drive to increase general police numbers by 55,000 to over 190,000 by 2009 and to 200,000 by 2010. By the end of 2008, 44,000 new members will have been recruited. However, only a small fraction of these will be deployed specifically for the event. The vast majority of the police deployed for the World Cup will be trained officers with experience in major events and crowd control.
"The number of police reservists is also being doubled ahead of the World Cup, from 45,000 to 100,000, meaning that by 2010 South Africa will have a significantly larger and well trained police service."
Countries competing in the event will be contacted to send their own specially trained police officers to assist with language and cultural differences and to support the SAPS. "The point is that experience in major events and crowd control.
"The number of police reservists is also being doubled ahead of the World Cup, from 45,000 to 100,000, meaning that by 2010 South Africa will have a significantly larger and well trained police service."
Countries competing in the event will be contacted to send their own specially trained police officers to assist with language and cultural differences and to support the SAPS. "The point is that we need those officers. They will help us a lot to understand and react to any sudden incidents that occur which we might misunderstand and therefore react wrongly. For example, the reaction of some crowds to a victory or a defeat, to us as South Africans might be dangerous or strange but is normal to the officer of the same nationality and vice versa. What an English officer sees as normal, a South African finds dangerous and the opposite. So, the existence of international officers is important to help us in reading the vibe of the fans. Those officers will be distributed with their team, venues, play grounds, command centres, fan parks and streets," Pruis explained.
South Africa will also be working closely with international agencies to gather intelligence.
As for the infrastructure and equipment, the SA government will spend some $66 million on procuring special equipment, including crowd- control equipment, crime scene trailers, unmanned aircraft, six Robinson R44 Raven II helicopters, specialised body armour and 300 mobile cameras.
"The SAPS will also invest in 10 mobile command centres at a cost of around $600,000 each, "added the SAPS deputy commissioner. " These centres, which will largely be based at the match venues, can be moved around if need be, and will feature high tech monitoring equipment, which will be able to receive live footage from airplanes and other cameras. These investments will continue to assist the police in their crime fighting efforts long after the World Cup is over."
Pruis said there will be dedicated 2010 police stations within close proximity of each of the stadiums, as well as crime-investigation trams and special courts to investigate and deal with event-related crime 24 hours, seven days a week in addition to a 24-hour multilingual hotline to assist visitors requiring police or medical services.
"There will also be focus on border security at ports f entry, including South Africa's land, sea and air borders. A regional (Southern African Development Community) security plan has been finalised and cooperation with several countries has been initiated. Border security and sea and air security strategies are in place. There is also a focus on route security, on the roads between host cities and from airports into the cities.
"The host cities are to be divided into sections for the World Cup, with teams patrolling the sections which will include FIFA headquarters, hotels, other accommodation establishments, the stadiums, fan parks, restaurants and tourist venues.
"Thus far the joint security forces have undertaken several simulations and training exercises to hone their skills. These include air and maritime defence and CBRN (chemical, biological, radioactive and nuclear) simulation exercises in Cape Town (Operation Green Point), Port Elizabeth (Operational Shield) and Bloemfontein (Operational Shield ll). Early in 2009 SAPS will be conducting Operational Shield lll in the Gauteng Province.
The New Year will bring new key projects taking place in South Africa regarding safety and security issues. There will be more focus on the development of detailed safety and security operational plans for the Confederations Cup and a phasing in of FIFA safety guidelines at selected Premier Soccer League (PSL) and South African Football Association (SAFA) games. A public awareness campaign on spectator codes of conduct at stadiums will also be launched.
This month, the 2010 Organising Committee will launch the steward's programme. The LOC is responsible for facilitating the recruitment, training and deployment of stewards/marshals for the Confederations Cup and World Cup.
"It is envisaged that at least 5,000 stewards will be needed for the Confederations Cup and 40,000 for the World Cup. Candidates in the stewards' programme will receive an internationally accredited certificate in event security, the first time this has happened in South Africa. A total of 70 stadium safety officers have already started training this week," Pruis said.
Deputy Minister Shabagu assured everyone that South Africa will live up to its commitment and deliver the safest and most secure World Cup ever. "We will be able to meet our task. The government will undertake all security measures to provide protection for the stadiums, the hotels, training grounds, airports, media centres and the fans. Previous sports experiences have proven that nothing has gone wrong in any of the international events South Africa has hosted like the 1995 Rugby World Cup, 1996 Africa Cup of Nations, 1999 All-Africa Games, the 2001 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), the World Conference on Racism in 2001 and the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup.
"For the WSSD, South Africa pioneered a security model that has been acknowledged as a new international benchmark, and has since been adopted by the United Nations as its model for large events."
FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke said he was sure South Africa will hold a safe World Cup. "We must have a safe and secure environment for everyone. There is a commitment from the government to FIFA and from FIFA to everyone involved in the World Cup including teams, players, referees, media and staff."
Danny Jordan, the 2010 World Cup CEO, also spoke to reporters about the issue. "We are talking here about event security, not about general security or house security in the country. The question is can this country secure this event or not? The experience shows we can and the proof is that since the 1995 Rugby World Cup, there has been an increase in tourism from 1.5 million to nine million which means 700 tourists per month. In December every year we receive 1.2 million tourists for Christmas and New Year. If we can secure 1.2 million, I don't see why we can't secure 430,000 expected to come to the World Cup. At least we know where everyone will be. Once this info is passed to the security, it is guaranteed by the government.
"In this stadium, Ellis Park, we have hosted major events like the stars of Africa football teams playing a friendly against the FIFA world stars team. Nobody felt they were in danger. Ask all the big football teams that have come here about their experience. Manchester United was here in July and before that Barcelona, AC Milan, Germany, Brazil, Argentina and all-African teams.
"For us, safety and security are of strategic importance here because we are aiming at having more than 10 million tourists a year," Jordan said.
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