Mock hostages help SAfrica for World Cup security

Two fighter jets force a terrorist aircraft to land, while on the ground, elite South African police prepare to free a group of hostages, in an exercise to prepare security forces for the 2010 World Cup.

As soon as it touches down, heavily armed men surround the terrorist plane, with a tank standing by as back-up. In the sky, helicopters fly over the scene to prevent the terrorists from taking off again.

The exercise unfolded on an air force base outside of Pretoria, where South African security forces are training this week to prepare for any security risks to the country’s skies during the football World Cup.

In this scenario, radical environmentalists were seeking to capture media attention by hijacking a light aircraft.

Emergency preparations immediately swing into action as a team of negotiators tries to negotiate with the extremists.

“We established contacts but they ignored us. There is no way to communicate with them,” Captain Carol Cronier, chief of the negotiators’ team, says convincingly.

Outside of the mock hostage-taking, she acknowledges that South Africa doesn’t see many hostage crises.

“It does not happen very frequently in South Africa, but we must be prepared, just in case,” she said.

Worries over the security preparations for the World Cup and the Confederations Cup just three months away have heightened since the attack in Pakistan on Sri Lanka’s cricket team, when 10 people were killed in early March.

“I don’t think South Africa is a specific target, but the incidents in Pakistan are a warning that anything can happen,” said assistant commissioner Ben Groenewald, who heads the national security planning team for the tournaments.

Of greater concern in South Africa is the risk of homicides or kidnappings in a country with one of the world’s highest crime rates, where 50 people are killed every day.

More than 40,000 law enforcement officers will be dedicated to ensuring security during the World Cup, which kicks off in June 2010, with 10,000 working the Confederations Cup, while defence forces will be ready as back-ups.

Groenewald said that when South Africa has hosted major events before, street crime actually goes down.

“Past experience indicates that during major events, the crime level goes down because of the saturation of police forces,” he said.

Security forces are also working to tackle the specific challenges of hosting one of the world’s greatest sports events, including crowd control and detecting counterfeit tickets, said David Garnett, a senior operational planner for 2010.

“There are a number of issues that we are going to look at across a broad spectrum to ensure that we will not be in a position to be embarrassed at any stage,” he said.

“We are in control of the situation and we constantly review the threats that might be applicable to us.”

He only offered one piece of advice to the 400,000 foreign visitors expected here for the World Cup: “Enjoy your time, you are going to be safe, you will have a great time.”