S.Africa airports boost security for World Cup

South Africa’s international airports have a notorious reputation for baggage theft, but officials say they have cracked down on pilfering and boosted security ahead of the World Cup.

Airports Company South Africa has spent 165 million rands (21 million dollars, 17 million euros) upgrading security ahead of the June 11 kick-off, including electronic bag scanners meant to cut down on luggage theft.

That will be put to the test this week as 300,000 World Cup fans begin arriving in South Africa, with about one third of them landing just on Wednesday and Thursday, according to South African football officials.

“Three years ago, we used to have about 40 cases of theft reported per day,” said Tebogo Mekgoe, the assistant general manager at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport, the busiest in the country.

He acknowledged the airport had acquired a “pretty bad” reputation for theft, with international travellers often warned of baggage handlers’ sticky fingers.

The US embassy website calls theft at OR Tambo a “serious problem” and encourages travellers to secure their luggage with locks approved by the air safety agency.

Britain’s embassy recommends vacuum-wrapping checked bags in plastic when travelling to South Africa — a service offered in most departure terminals.

But Mekgoe said the airport authority has reduced luggage theft to “almost nothing” by hiring all new baggage handlers, creating a “baggage reaction team” and switching to electronic scanners that track bags from check-in to loading on the plane.

“This new technology has remarkably reduced cases of pilferage,” Mekgoe told reporters.

He said OR Tambo had not received a single baggage theft complaint during last year’s Confederations Cup, a warm-up tournament for the World Cup.

But the problem has not been completely resolved.

South African Airways, the country’s largest carrier, reports theft from two out of every 1,000 bags, a problem the airline has blamed on organised crime.

Speaking before a parliamentary committee in March, the airline’s then-acting CEO Chris Smyth, said crime syndicates are sponsoring baggage theft, which has continued despite the firing of 175 luggage handlers last year.

Other aspects of airport security have also come under fire after reports of planned attacks on the World Cup raised fears of terror threats.

Reporters from radio station Talk 702 last month snuck steak knives, syringes, screwdrivers, scissors and razor blades through security undetected at the Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban international airports.

But the airport authority insisted its security measures are solid.

“The technology we use is world-class and our security staff undergo regular, highly specialised training. As a result, well over 700 prohibited items are detected on a daily basis at our airports countrywide,” spokesman Solomon Makgale said.

“The reported breach is therefore a rare occurrence,” he added.