Police '100% prepared' for Final Draw
4 December 2009
South Africa's law enforcement agencies are "100% prepared" ahead of today's 2010 Fifa World Cup Final Draw to be held in Cape Town, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa says.
"Now, on the eve of the Fifa 2010 Final Draw and with just 188 days until kick-off, we are fully convinced that the security forces, supported by our intelligence community and all other role-players, are 100% prepared to efficiently secure these events and all parallel activities," said Mthethwa, who together with Police Commissioner Bheki Cele briefed the media in the city yesterday.
Police, air force, navy
Dedicated police personnel with 44 police vehicles would be tasked with patrolling 14 routes in and around Cape Town ahead and during the draw. There would also be air patrols by the South African Air Force and maritime patrols by the SA Navy, SA Police Service's border and sea units.
While police would patrol those areas where events were taking place as part of the Final Draw, police officers would also be based at hotels where team members and Fifa delegates were staying.
A joint intelligence coordinating committee, made up of police, the SA Secret Service and the National Intelligence Agency and the military intelligence would be on alert 24 hours a day seven days a week.
Security planning
The security plan for the Final Draw has been in place since 25 November and will run until 10 December.
Cele, who said 1 000 police officers would be on duty at today's draw, pointed out that the police had so far spent R660-million on security and added that an additional R640-million would be spent on security operations for 2010.
In all 41 000 of the police's current 183 000 members would be devoted to policing 2010 matches.
Deputy police commissioner Andre Pruis, who heads up the police's 2010 security arrangements, said everything was running "very, very smoothly" and reasoned that this was perhaps down to good planning.
Source: BuaNews
