The 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup could lift security skills

South African safety and security agencies are presently receiving considerable assistance from abroad to bring them to a state of full readiness for next year’s Fifa Soccer World Cup Tournament (2010 WC).

There are, however, more pressing and lasting security problems with which local authorities have to grapple. The additional training and assistance they are presently receiving in the training of staff and volunteers would hopefully leave a 2010 legacy of its own.

It was reported in late May this year that efforts to crack down on criminals and petty crimes in KwaZulu-Natal during the 2010 WC received a boost when 750 new volunteers completed their training, bringing the total number of recruits who have been trained to date to 1 950.

The volunteers are being trained by the Greater Manchester Police from England and are being recruited under a special Volunteer Social Crime Prevention Project.

They will be deployed to help the South African Police Service (SAPS) and other crime prevention structures such as local police services.

Sergeant Gary Edwards of the Greater Manchester Police, who was one of the training officers, said they trained the volunteers in subjects such as crime scene management, how to take statements from victims and other basic elements of crime prevention work. According to him, the recruits “adjusted pretty well”.

During June in the Eastern Cape, Nelson Mandela Bay police officers were being trained by French officers on particularly the finer points of crowd management and control in preparation for the 2010 WC.

Police spokesperson, Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg said the training was conducted by French police officers who had come to South Africa to provide skills transfers to local personnel.

The training lasted three weeks and was aimed at ensuring there were enough local police officers, trained in dealing with the challenges of large events, available for events such as the 2010 WC.

“It is good for us to have members who can assist, because if we don’t know how to control the situation, we will have total chaos,” Van Rensburg said.

At big events police officers would identify problematic people in the crowd and escort them to their seats to avoid chaos, she said.

However, the fight for local authorities is on other security fronts, and was well illustrated in a speech by then Cape Town mayor Helen Zille earlier this year.

She said that for every R3 the metropolitan council of the City of Cape Town spends on providing basic services in informal settlements, another R2 has to be spent on repairing damage done by vandals and criminals. This is having a severe effect on service delivery aimed at the poorest of the poor.

Even relatively valueless items such as PVC piping are being stolen, and concrete toilets are being smashed. In the process, the council is fighting a losing battle to provide basic services in the face of rampant criminality.

She pointed out that the city installed 422 water standpipes in 222 informal settlements, yet 5 482 repairs had to be carried out on vandalised or stolen pipes and taps. The council installed 2 458 toilets, while 4 302 repairs had to be carried out on vandalised cisterns, toilet pans, pipes and ablution structures.

The city increased the rollout of toilets this year, but at the stage that 2 840 toilets had been installed, some 1 028 repairs to vandalised or stolen infrastructure were also required.

While the city has a budget of R65 million for basic services in the informal settlements, it also has another R60m for repairs and maintenance.

“But we are spending a large portion of this on replacing stolen infrastructure,” said Zille.

Concrete wall panels, wood and steel doors, as well as roofing from ablution facilities were stolen and used by residents on their own building structures. In some incidences, plastic pipes were dug up from private use for resale, she said.

Zille pointed out that the cost implications for the city and its ratepayers were serious.

It costs R250 to replace a cistern, R800 a steel door, R150 a toilet pan, R30 a toilet pan connector, R2 500 a water standpipe, and R2 500 to replace and concrete structure. It costs R90 a metre to replace 160mm PVC pipes.

She said a trend was also emerging of some residents in informal settlements damaging infrastructure upgrades in the hope that members of the community would be granted the repair work.

The city has now extended its non-ferrous metal theft task team – nicknamed the Copperheads – to combat basic infrastructure theft and vandalism.

“It is good for us to have members who can assist, because if we don’t know how to control the situation, we will have total chaos”