Ensuring safety in a volatile world

The world is gaining confidence in South Africa’s ability to host events safely. The real trial starts here

The decision to relocate the Indian Premier League Twenty20 cricket tournament to South Africa is a boost to the country’s reputation as a secure sporting nation. South Africa may still be statistically one of the most violent and dangerous countries in the world, yet it has been deemed to be a more suitable host nation than England for this massive sporting event.

The Confederations Cup will be the first time when
procedures for the World Cup can be tested

“Hopefully the events in Pakistan earlier this year are not the expression of a special threat. It is very important to know that security standards are of the highest quality and the South African Police, together with all governmental authorities, is prepared for all eventualities,” says FIFA consultant Horst Schmidt.

Schmidt is positive about the South African approach. “The safety and security plan for the 2010 World Cup event has been of good quality from the beginning – the same applies to the FIFA Confederations Cup 2009.”

Separating crime from events
Danny Jordaan, CEO of the SA 2010 local organising committee (LOC), explains: “There are two issues – there is societal crime, and there is events security. These are two separate issues.” But this separation breaks down if sports tourists fall victim to societal crime. The way to prevent this from happening is by carefully monitoring and containing the movements of visitors.

“The way you secure the event is to collect the maximum amount of information,” says Jordaan. “If I have 100 per cent of the information about where you are staying, where you are going to eat, when you are going to move – I can give you the guarantee that you are going to be 100 per cent safe. The first issue is luggage security. Once you get in the bus, it is route security. You go to your hotel: hotel security. Then there is stadium security.”

Tour operators are playing a crucial role. “Tour operators will not just sell tickets but also packages – your ticket, your accommodation, your transportation and we will have that information.” When it comes to route security, all the major routes are being monitored on a 24 hour basis. “Those cameras can zoom into your car – the level of detail is remarkable. We will have 41,000 additional policemen on duty for the World Cup and also 45,000 stewards. In each of our host cities we will have surveillance cameras, new police vehicles, police helicopters, water cannons and regular dry run security training.”

Shared security experiences
Security for the World Cup is not being developed in isolation. “To deal with all the possible threats around such a major event there needs to be strong international cooperation,” says Jordaan. “We already had our security people working in Germany in 2006. They worked in the final of Euro 2008 and at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.”

South Africa’s recent good track record in hosting major events enabled it to win its 2010 World Cup bid. The 1995 Rugby World Cup, the 1996 African Cup of Nation, the 1998 Athletics World Cup, the 2003 Cricket World Cup and the 2007 Twenty20 Cricket World Cup were all hosted in South Africa.

“Our security plan has been tested over 15 years at many major events. And so our country, because it is hosting major events almost every weekend, has a strong security implementation planning and human resource capacity.” says Jordaan.

As events in Pakistan have shown, the security climate for a sporting event can change very quickly. “You have to review and update your security plan as you go along, given the kind of world that we live in.” There is too much riding on the event for organisers not to be prepared for every eventuality. “We want 10 million tourists by 2010 and we cannot achieve it unless people come into a safe and secure environment,” says Jordaan.