World Cup News

More reports from the local South African newspapers:

Crime: It seems the SA government are understandably trying to play down the risks of crime for soccer fans during the world cup, judging by the PR articles appearing regularly in the papers. We've just had a report that there will be 'no mercy for criminals and terrorists in SA' according to the SA Minister of Police. The country has spent R665 million on special equipment and will be spending a further R640m to deploy 41 000 police and security officials for the event.

Also it has been reported that the Hawks (a new special crime fighting unit of the SA Police) arrested three of the top ten most wanted criminals in SA last week.

Paraguay: It seems that the Paraguayan world cup team will be based in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands for the world cup and training at one of the leading private schools in the country, Michaelhouse.  However, there is a row brewing over who is going to pick up the tab for the upgrade of two of the school playing fields which will be used by the team for training.  The school is refusing to pay the estimated R4m cost of the upgrade, contrary to the thinking of the local world cup organising committee.

Flight prices: The SA Competition Commission is investigating six of the country's airlines for alledgedly colluding on flight prices and pricing strategies to be adopted during the world cup tournament.  If the Commission finds evidence of collusion, it will be submitted to the Competition Tribunal who could find the airlines guilty and impose fines. Some of the airlines have said that they have not colluded, but are pricing their flights high in June/July until they find out how big the demand is.

Camping fans: Thousands of Australian soccer fans will be camping in tents in Durban during the world cup. The Kingsmead cricket ground and several school playing fields will be set up with tented villages, with streets named after famous Aussie soccer players. The organisers say that Durban will be the best place to stay because it will be warmer, especially for campers - Cape Town will be too wet and Johannesburg (and other inland areas) will be just too cold. They are quoting prices like R250 per couple per tent per night - that's about GBP20.

High prices: SA Tourism is angry that the country's hospitality industry is hiking up their prices for world cup visitors. They say that the country's reputation as a tourism destination will be severely damaged unless the hotels, B&Bs and private homeowners drop their prices.

Visiting drivers: Whilst the traffic authorities are getting concerned about the welfare of visiting soccer fans driving on our roads, the car hire companies are saying that foreign drivers are in fact far safer than local drivers - and the worst menaces on SA roads are the mini-bus taxis and potholes. By the way, it is useful to note that all foreign driving licences are valid for visitors in South Africa, provided that the face of the licence, if in a foreign language, has an English translation thereon.