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Police 'to build on World Cup success'

19 July 2010

Senior South African police officials say the crime situation in the country will not be given a chance to go back to where it was before the 2010 Fifa World Cup™.

"Policing cannot be on the same scale as it was happening as during the tournament, but definitely crime can't go back to ... the same level as it was happening before the World Cup," Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said in Pretoria on Thursday.

Mthethwa said the government was determined to take the best practices and lessons learned during the event to safeguard both citizens and visitors who were now more likely to come to the country after the successful hosting of the tournament.

He said equipment acquired for the World Cup would benefit ongoing policing. Police officers deployed in cities and townships during the event would stay there, while major roads and highways would continue to be patrolled by police vehicles.

The World Cup saw a high visibility of police officials, with 40 000 new, well-trained police officers incorporated into the police force. These recruits will remain on the force.

Recruiting officers

Also addressing the briefing, Police Commissioner Bheki Cele said the police force intended to keep up the World Cup momentum: "While policing cannot be sustained at the level it had been during the tournament, police will maintain efforts to keep the country safe," he said.

The government hopes to increase the number of police officials to 200 000 in the 2011/12 period.

Cases under investigation

Official data indicates that there were 1 002 case dockets opened for investigation around the country during the World Cup. Of these, 558 cases have been finalised and 387 are still under investigation.

There were 447 arrests made, of which 266 involved South African citizens while 181 involved foreign nationals.

In terms of World Cup rights protection cases, that being ticketing and counterfeit goods related cases, a staggering R45.8-million worth of goods were seized.

During investigations, 78 cases dockets were opened and 106 people were arrested. Most of the cases were opened in Gauteng province (50), followed by the Eastern Cape with 11.

Police management are to meet in Mpumalanga at the end of the month to plan the way forward after the World Cup.

Source: BuaNews