A Few Quotes on Crime and the World Cup:Pat Symcox, a former South African cricketer and president of the Selborne Golf Club, where the murder of Burgstaller took place, said: “The government should deal with our crime situation. If they cannot, they should cancel the 2010 World Cup in this country.”
He went as far as to say countries worldwide should call for the event to be taken away. The shooting on the Selborne golf course was indicative that international visitors - be they members of the Fifa delegation, businessmen or ordinary holiday makers - were not safe in this country, said Symcox.
“Did the hotel warn you about Durban?” he inquired. “No? Let me tell you, never walk anywhere - day or night. Gangs will gather in groups of four and they will jump you. They will be carrying knives and one will have a blade to your throat, while the other three strip you for your watch, your wallet and your mobile phone. If you try to fight back, you will be stabbed. Crime is a massive problem and there is no way of solving it for the World Cup.”
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South Africa Admits Crime Deters Tourism
By Kenly Walker
CAPE TOWN, South Africa, July 23, 2007
 Members of the Inkatha Freedom Party, some acting for the camera, yield cardboard rolls as they demonstrate against crime in downtown Johannesburg, South Africa, on March 3, 2007. South Africa, which will host the 2010 World Cup soccer, is facing an endemic crime problem: In 2005-2006, official crime statistics reported 18,528 murders and 54,926 rapes. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay) |
Government Is Working On New Tourism Safety And Awareness Strategy As 2010 World Cup Approaches
(AP) South Africa's tourism minister acknowledged Monday that his country's reputation for crime was keeping visitors away, and said his ministry was working with police to address the issue.
According to one survey, Marthinus van Schalkwyk said in a speech to tourism industry leaders, about one-third of potential tourists had mentioned fears about safety as one reason for not visiting South Africa in the past five years.
"Crime is an issue we as industry have to deal with if we want to reach our target of 10 million arrivals by 2010," van Schalkwyk said.
Tourism is booming in South Africa, thanks to its stunning beaches and scenery, prolific wildlife, rich cultural heritage and low prices. In 2006 the number of visitors shot up by one million to 8.4 million and the government is upbeat about smashing its target of 10 million by the time South Africa hosts soccer's World Cup in 2010.
Business tourism is also thriving, with Cape Town in particular emerging as a popular venue for conferences.
But crime is also rising, as evidenced by recently released statistics which showed an increase in the number of murders, violent robberies and carjackings.
Relatively few foreign tourists were among the 19,202 people murdered last year; although police figures do not give any breakdown. However foreign visitors, with their expensive cameras and bulging wallets, are easy prey for muggers.
Van Schalkwyk said he was pressing for a separate breakdown in the annual crime statistics of crimes against tourists.
"This can assist in dealing with perceptions that the country may not be safe for tourists," he said.
The government has promised to increase spending on security and boost police numbers from the current 152,000 to 190,000 by 2010 and insists that soccer fans flooding in for the World Cup will be safe.
Van Schalkwyk said his department was working with police on a new Tourism Safety and Awareness strategy. Tourist industry representatives had also started giving police information on activities, routes and events, he said.
He said authorities were considering having a designated officer in every police station to dealing with tourism crime-related issues. The long term aim was to establish Tourism Ambassador Units in police stations, he said.
Source: CBS News
Hundreds of children on the streets, brutal gangs terrorising tourists and a police force unable to cope... it's a very warm welcome to South Africa
Last updated at 10:17 26 November 2007
 Darker side: wreckage of burning car lights up night in Cape Town |
Durban cleaned up her streets the other day - but not in the conventional sense. As Sepp Blatter and the FIFA blazeratti swept into Africa for the World Cup qualifying draw, the host nation was determined to present the best possible image to visiting coaches, dignitaries and media.
So thousands of 'street children' were conveniently removed from their usual haunts and locked away from public view for the duration of Durban's big weekend in the international spotlight.
It is not as unusual as it sounds. Sportsmail has learned Glasgow's down- and- outs were similarly 'cleansed ' last May for the occasion of the UEFA Cup Final at Hampden, featuring Sevilla and Espanyol.
The vagrants were rounded up to be given meals so that the routes taken by UEFA's VIPs were viewed in a better light. That South Africa clearly feels the need to make a proactive strike against a more unseemly element of their culture, however, is worrying.
The police presence on the streets of Durban, a sprawling port with a population of almost four million, has been strikingly obvious.
Armed officers patrol street corners and hotel entrances in an effort to minimise the risk to visitors. Security guards carrying lasers sometimes 'scan' those coming in and out of an establishment.
It cut little ice with one local, whose muttered warnings sounded darkly ominous for fans around the globe anticipating the first World Cup ever staged in Africa.
"Did the hotel warn you about Durban?" he inquired. "No? Let me tell you, never walk anywhere - day or night. Gangs will gather in groups of four and they will jump you. They will be carrying knives and one will have a blade to your throat, while the other three strip you for your watch, your wallet and your mobile phone. If you try to fight back, you will be stabbed.
"In the restaurants or the shops you will be safe because there is security and CCTV. But you won't be safe in the street.
"Crime is a massive problem and there is no way of solving it for the World Cup. The country is so concerned that 25,000 extra police officers will be employed simply for the sake of the tournament."
The headlines made equally grim reading. On Friday, The Mercury newspaper reported that local garage owners and their staff were "living in fear for their lives" because of what police suspect are two gangs making repeated armed robberies.
 Peter Burgstaller, Austrian football goalkeeper. Letter to Austrian Embassy, Burgstaller Family, et al; RE: Boycott 2010 World Cup! |
Worse was to follow. The Sunday Tribune reported yesterday on Blatter's visit and the impending draw with a story about an Austrian man shot dead while playing golf here on Friday evening.
It was feared the man was one of visiting FIFA delegates but it later transpired that the victim was 43-year-old Peter Burgstaller, a former SV Salzburg goalkeeper and a friend of Franz Beckenbauer and German coach Oliver Bierhoff.
Blatter condemned the killing of Burgstaller but insisted the murder could have happened in any city.
He said: "We deplore that a tourist was shot dead as we would deplore all death or casualties in any country. This tourist was not a member of the delegation coming here for the draw and to make a parallel between FIFA's presence here and his death is not right. In a city of 3.5million some crimes will happen as they would in many other countries.
"On Friday evening in a tram station in Zurich, a 16-year-old girl was shot. Crime is everywhere - and Zurich is 10 times smaller than Durban."
Nonetheless, Pat Symcox, a former South African cricketer and president of the Selborne Golf Club, where the murder of Burgstaller took place, said: "The government should deal with our crime situation. If they cannot, they should cancel the 2010 World Cup in this country."
While teams will, undoubtedly, be protected by a huge security presence come the tournament, serious questions remain about the safety and well-being of fans.
Imagine telling the Tartan Army never to leave their hotel rooms for fear of being mugged?
It just does not fit the culture for Scotland's travelling hordes who swarmed on no lesser a thoroughfare than the Champs Elysees in Paris before the amazing win over France in the Parc des Princes in September.
As well as the crime issue, South Africa's travel infrastructure will come under enormous strain as hundreds of thousands of fans flood into the country. Their national airline seemed over- subscribed as 2,000 delegates and 300 media people headed for Durban last Friday. Transferring baggage from one airport to another was also a big problem.
These are mere frustrations on an individual basis for travellers.
But when an estimated 360,000 visitors come to the World Cup, the strain could reach breaking point.
So the concerns are obvious and acute. With 31 months to run until the tournament, South Africa are still struggling to supply the 10 stadia that FIFA has demanded.
Three new-build grounds in Durban, Nelspruit and Cape Town have been hit by strike action from construction workers and labourers, who presumably see the deadlines set as giving them the chance to hold their employers over a barrel.
Costs have already rocketed way above budget to give deep concern for Danny Jordaan, head of the local organising committee for the South African World Cup. Even local politicians are beginning to voice their concern.
 Darker side of the continent: The inhabitants suffer abject poverty and desolation and take to the streets to beg for aid |
Cape Town's mayor, Helen Zille, has questioned where the vast amount of money will come from to finance the construction of the stadium. She is anxious that the diverting of funds will not sideline more pressing needs like housing, sanitation and other essential services for the city's poor.
While many of her fears have been allayed, such voicing of concern from a prominent source indicates that not everyone is onside.
Transport is also an on-going headache. The Gautrain, an ambitious rail project for Johannesburg, will only be partly completed by 2010. It will take fans from the airport to the suburbs of the city but will go nowhere near any of the stadiums.
None of the above, naturally enough, was mentioned in the upbeat television adverts cutting into sports programmes.
One, unified nation representing the whole of Africa is very much the theme and the gospel according to Blatter. If the delegates require bulletproof vests under their blazers, however, FIFA may yet have a rough ride as they take the World Cup on safari.
Source: Daily Mail
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