| 1000 crimes committed at 2010 venues - 15/07/2010 |
Just under 1000 crimes were reported in and around the country’s stadiums on match days during the World Cup, said Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa. The majority of these were thefts and muggings. A total of 704 incidents took place outside the stadiums while 290 occurred inside the stadium. Some 1788 crimes were reported in and around fan parks which saw about 1.2 million fans in attendance during match days.
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Full report on the IoL site
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| Police to maintain security – Cele – 14/07/2010 |
The police will keep up security in the country after the 2010 World Cup, said National Police Commissioner Bheki Cele. Sport24 reports that while policing could not be sustained at the level it had been during the tournament, the police would maintain efforts to keep the country safe, he said at Primedia’s Star of the Star award, which Cele and his deputy Fikile Mbalula accepted on behalf of the whole police force.
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Full Sport24 report
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| FIFA to tighten security for final matches - 08/07/2010 |
FIFA says it will tighten security for the 2010 World Cup final and third-place playoff after the incursion onto the field by an Italian fan carrying a vuvuzela. The semifinal between Germany and Spain in Durban was interrupted briefly in the fourth minute when the fan ran onto the pitch to protest about the exclusion of a player from Italy’s squad.
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Full report in The Times
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| WC replica trophy filled with cocaine -03/07/2010 |
Fans worldwide have fashioned replicas of the World Cup trophy out of everything from papier-mache to plastic, notes a report on the IoL site. But a lawbreaker in Colombia gets top prize for most original material: cocaine. Airports anti-drug chief Col. Jose Piedrahita says that Colombian authorities found the unusual statue during a routine security check by anti-drug agents in a mail warehouse at Bogota’s international airport.
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Full report on the IOL site
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| Police confirm FIFA HQ robbery – 29/06/2010 |
A robbery at the FIFA headquarters in Johannesburg was confirmed by national police commissioner General Bheki Cele on Tuesday, notes a Sport24 report. ’Yes we know there was burglary there. We are looking into it,’ said Cele. He said seven trophy replicas and two jerseys had been taken during the incident which led police to believe that the crime was perpetrated by people familiar with the offices. It was not immediately clear when the incident took place. Meanwhile Cele said since the start of the World Cup 316 people had been arrested, 207 of them South Africans, for tournament related crime.
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Full Sport24 report
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| British reporter arrested - 29/06/2010 |
A Brisith reporter from The Sunday Mirror has been arrested by the South African police for ’orchestrating’ the incident at Cape Town’s Greenpoint Stadium where UK citizen, Pavlos Joseph trespassed into the English team’s change room.
The Times reports that Simon Wright was arrested for ’booking hotels for Joseph under a false name and also harbouring and interviewing Joseph for seven days after he made news,’ sais National Police Commissioner General Bheki Cele. Cele told both local and international media that police had evidence that Wright had orchestrated the incident and ’involved the cooperation of a number of individuals’.
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Full report in The Times
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| Cops set for England, Germany encounter - 24/06/2010set |
All security measures are in place for the World Cup clash between arch-rivals Germany and England in Bloemfontein on Sunday, police said. ’We have taken everything into consideration and I can confirm that we have plans in accordance with that,’ said national police spokesperson Colonel Vish Naidoo. ’I can confirm that the security is all in place. It will be as our stress analysis dictates, but I can’t go into detail.’ Sport24 reports that security would include English and German police officers at the stadium and at key points in the Bloemfontein.
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Full Sport24 report Sport24
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| Heavy police protection for France – 24/06/2010 |
France’s team returned to Paris under heavy police protection after their humiliating first-round exit from the 2010 World Cup. Sport24 reports that the plane chartered by the French Federation landed at Le Bourget business airport, 20 km north of Paris, after a 15-hour flight from South Africa. A smattering of supporters were kept at a distance and dozens of photographers, cameramen and journalists were penned behind a wire fence. Some of the players went straight into two coaches with darkened windows which left the airport through a back entrance.
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Full Sport24 report
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| Police angry over ’double standards’ - 23/06/2010 |
Police members, emergency workers and soldiers deployed in Mpumalanga for the 2010 World Cup have been angered by the suspension of three police officials in Nelspruit, Beeld reports. The three police officials, who were off-duty at the time, and two paramedics rushed to the house of a Fifa official to assist her after she became ill. Beverly Salmon (38) confirmed this. However, after she had recovered in the high care unit of a private hospital, she laid a charge of theft against the emergency workers as she realised that a camera was missing from her home.
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Full Beeld report
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| Fan opens case against corrupt cop - 23/06/2010 |
An American fan has opened a case against a traffic officer who allegedly solicited a R1 000 bribe from him in Sandton, Johannesburg metro police said. Sport24 reports that the fan had brought charges at the Sandton police station and lodged a complaint with the metro police’s internal affairs, said Superintendent Wayne Minnaar. An identity parade had to be postponed because the fan could not attend, he said.
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Full Sport24 report
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| Security firm considering suing LOC - 23/06/2010 |
Stallion Security has confirmed it is considering suing the World Cup Local Organising Committee for a breach of contract that led to thousands of stadium guards losing their jobs, says a report in The Mercury. The company’s Richard Ringrose, who was in charge of its World Cup contract to supply ’stewards’ to four World Cup stadiums, said Stallion had been paid in full by the committee for the services provided so far. According to press reports the contract until the end of the World Cup would have been worth R60m.
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Full report in The Mercury
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| Mystery over ’WC murders’ - 21/06/2010 |
Mystery surrounds the brutal execution of three men gunned down at a World Cup braai party. According to a report on the IoL site, cops suspect the shooting may be gang-related but have been unable to make any arrests. Relatives say the trio were getting ready for an evening of World Cup soccer viewing when they were ambushed in Overcome Heights, Seawinds.
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Full report on the IOL site
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| Burglar threatens Cup tourists - 20/06/2010 |
A robber threatened to kill a group of US soccer fans in Cape Town for the World Cup when he was caught inside the Camps Bay house they had rented, a court heard on Saturday. According to a report on the News24 site, US tourist Steven Davis told the Cape Town World Cup Regional Court that John Mthambo, 31, had a knife and threatened to kill him and his friends when they trapped him inside the house when they returned from a World Cup game on June 18. Godland Rossouw, who had chauffeured the group on the night, told the court Mthambo told them to ’get out (of the house), or I will kill you’.
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Full report on the News24 site
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| Net closes on foreign 2010 criminals - 20/06/2010Net |
Foreigners trying to capitalise on South Africa’s reputation as a crime capital - even disguising themselves to look like locals - have made up the bulk of those arrested during the first week of the World Cup. International gangs like the Argentinian soccer hooligans, Barra Bravas, whose activities include criminal acts, have been the focus of a police crackdown. Europeans, South Americans and Africans top the perpetrators’ list of ’petty’ offences committed since the start of the tournament - but a strong message has also gone to hardcore international crime syndicates.
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Full report on the IOL site
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| 2010 spam intensifies - 19/06/2010 |
SA will see a spam increase greater than that experienced at the Germany 2006 World Cup, predicts Symantec’s Gordon Love. Spam and phishing attacks related to the 2010 World Cup soared by 27% in May compared to the previous month, according to Symantec research. Symantec’s latest ’state of spam and phishing report’ shows globally, spam made up 89.81% of all e-mail messages in May, compared with 89.22% in April.
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Full ITweb report
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| 2010 spam intensifies - 19/06/2010 |
SA will see a spam increase greater than that experienced at the Germany 2006 World Cup, predicts Symantec’s Gordon Love. Spam and phishing attacks related to the 2010 World Cup soared by 27% in May compared to the previous month, according to Symantec research. Symantec’s latest ’state of spam and phishing report’ shows globally, spam made up 89.81% of all e-mail messages in May, compared with 89.22% in April.
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Full ITweb report
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| Crack down on protesters - 17/06/2010 |
Police used stun grenades and rubber bullets to break up a protest by striking World Cup security guards in a Cape Town suburb this week, said National South African Police spokesman Vish Naidoo. He said the crowd was very rough and refused to leave when asked to disperse. CNN reports that 12 protesters were arrested for illegal gathering and inciting violence, said Naidoo. The 2010 Local Organising Committee and the SA Police Service agreed Tuesday that police would replace the striking private security at four stadiums for the duration of the World Cup, officials said.
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Full CNN report
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| 2010 botch-up could have been prevented - 17/06/2010 |
The company whose security guards went on strike at the Moses Mabhida Stadium this week, pulled out of a multimillion-rand security tender at the eleventh hour last year over a salary dispute with the local organising committee (LOC). Institute for Security Studies senior researcher Johan Burger told The Mercury on Tuesday that the committee should have learnt from its mistakes ahead of the Confederations Cup last year, and should take responsibility for the latest debacle.
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Full report in The Mercury
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| FIFA clams up over pay dispute - 16/06/2010 |
FIFA and South Africa’s World Cup organisers went on the defensive on Wednesday about security issues at five World Cup stadiums caused by a stewards’ strike over low pay, notes a Sport24 report. Officials for FIFA and the organising committee declined to address the problems at their daily news briefing, referring all questions to police. ’We have nothing further to say about the security issue, please call the police,’ committee spokesperson Rich Mkhondo said.
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Full Sport24 report
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| Guards try to torch office - 16/06/2010 |
Two World Cup stadium security guards protesting over low wages tried to torch their employer’s office in Durban on Wednesday morning. Sport24 reports that security guards were gathering outside Stallion Security’s premises in Stamford Hill Road when two of them lit newspapers and approached the building. Their colleagues stopped them while others ran away.
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Full Sport24 report
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| WC guards fired - 15/06/2010 |
About two thousand disgruntled security guards, watched closely by riot police, handed in their uniforms and received their pay outside Moses Mabhida stadium on Tuesday, two days after violent scenes at the World Cup venue. Sport24 reports that police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse hundreds of protesting guards, unhappy at the level of pay they were being given, after Germany’s victory over Australia on Sunday.
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Full Sport24 report
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| Police take over at CT stadium - 15/06/2010 |
More than 1 000 police trainees were deployed to Cape Town Stadium yesterday evening after striking security officials walked off ahead of a World Cup match between Italy and Paraguay, Western Cape police said. ’Additional personnel from the city’s law enforcement, traffic services and metro police were also deployed to fill the void left by the striking stewards,’ said Colonel Billy Jones. The Herald reports that the trainees were from the Bishop Lavis and Philippi police colleges.
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Full report in The Herald
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| Bomb threat at CT Fan Fest - 15/06/2010 |
A man who told security at the Cape Town Fan Fest he had a bomb in his bag appeared in the city’s Magistrate’s Court. ’While entering the main entrance at the Fan Fest, he refused to be searched and told security personnel that he had a bomb in his bag. It is alleged that he repeated the verbal treat three times,’ said Colonel Billy Jones. Sport24 reports that Simphiwe Mshweshwe was arrested at about 15:00 after the police dog unit found he was not carrying a bomb.
He was charged with contravening the Explosives Act when he briefly appeared in the court on Monday night.
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Full Sport24 report
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| Brazilian held for theft in CT - 14/06/2010 |
Police have arrested a Brazilian man for allegedly stealing two handbags at a restaurant, an official said on Monday. Colonel Billy Jones said the 51-year-old man and three companions were among those who watched the World Cup opening match at a restaurant at the Cape Quarter in Green Point on Friday.
The man and his friends allegedly stole two handbags belonging to two South African women. The man appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Saturday.
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Full Sport24 report
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| ’They only gave us R190!’ - 14/06/2010 |
Durban police vowed to arrest those who led the protest at Moses Mabhida Stadium. ’We are busy investigating and we believe that some will be arrested soon because they are known,’ Brigadier Phindile Radebe said. According to the Associated Press about 300 security stewards protested about low wages after the game between Germany and Australia.
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Full IOL report
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| TV crew robbed – 13/06/2010 |
Burglars stole camera equipment worth $70 000 from a New Zealand television crew covering the World Cup in South Africa, notes areport on the News24 site. The theft took place at a hotel in northwestern Rustenburg, where the All Whites are due to play Slovakia on Tuesday, when a door was forced open with a jemmy (short crowbar) while the crew was out having dinner, TVNZ said on its website.
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Full report on the News24 site
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| SA passes key test - 13/06/2010 |
South African police passed their first major security test of the World Cup on Saturday as potential flashpoint matches involving Argentina and England went off peacefully. Sport24 reports that after a dozen suspected hooligans were arrested at Johannesburg airport, police staged a show of strength at Argentina’s match against Nigeria in the same city and England versus the United States in northwestern Rustenburg.
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Full Sport24 report
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