World Cup Safety

No-one can deny that South Africa has more than its fair share of crime and a lot of it is violent crime, whether it be house-breaking, car-hijacking or street-mugging. When you live here, you tend to get used to it, like the 'boiling frog' syndrome. Many residents have adapted to the threat by living in walled and electric-fenced complexes with security guards at the gates, although many people still live in ordinary houses without much more security than a couple of large dogs. Up to 10 years ago, a lot of people only knew a friend of a friend of a friend who had been the victim of crime.  Nowadays most people have themselves been victims to some extent.

On the other hand life goes on. We go shopping, we go to work and the kids go to school. We go to the beach, we go to restaurants, we go to each other's houses for braais (barbecues) and we go to sporting events.

So you shouldn't let the crime put you off coming to South Africa. The chances are that you will have a fantastic visit here without being affected by crime at all, if you take sensible precautions:

1. Keep your hotel/B&B rooms locked when you are in them as well as when you are out. Put money, valuables, passports and tickets in a safe.
2. Don't wear a lot of shiny jewellery when you are out and about, and keep your cameras and mobiles out of sight as much as possible.
3. Keep your car doors locked when driving around and be particularly observant at traffic lights. Leave space in front of your car, so you can drive around around the car in front of you, if you feel threatened.
4. Don't be a hero - if you are threatened by someone with a knife or gun, give them your car, cash and mobile.
5. Don't walk around alone, especially at night or in isolated places - stay in a group as much as possible.
6. If you see unsavoury characters looking at you, move away to a safer more crowded area. 
The more aware you are, the safer you'll be. 

The National Police Commissioner, Bheki Cele, has said that security plans for the World Cup meet international standards. The SA government says that:

"Some R665-million will be spent on procuring special equipment, including crowd-control equipment, crime scene trainers, unmanned aircraft, helicopters, 10 water cannons, 100 BMWs for highway patrol and up-to-date body armour. About 300 mobile cameras will also be used. There will be four mobile command centres at a cost of around R6 million each. These centres will feature high-tech monitoring equipment, which will be able to receive live footage from the airplanes and other cameras. The South African Police Service (SAPS) will spend R640 million on the deployment of 41 000 officers specifically for the event. Recruitment and event-specific training for this force is under way. The SAPS is on a massive recruitment drive to increase general police numbers by 55 000 to over 190 000 by 2009. The number of police reservists will also double before the FIFA World Cup, from 45 000 members to 100 000. So, by 2010 South Africa will have a significantly larger and well-trained police service."


It's also worth reading the excellent advice given by the British Foreign Office on their website -   http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/your-trip/travellingfans1/worldcup/ 
but please note that 9.5 million tourists visited South Africa in 2008 and the vast majority of them had no problem with crime whatsoever. So come on over, be safe and have a great time!