South Africa vows to ensure safety in World Cup
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South African police minister Nathi Mthethwa on Tuesday sought to allay fears about crime in the country during the football World Cup, which kicks off on June 11.
"There is nothing friendly between us and the criminals," he told a news conference.
"We are not friends, we are out to get them. We will make them run all the time. That's why we are always tightening the screws," he said, according to the South Africn Press Association (SAPA).
"We are preparing the country for any eventuality, whether it is petty crime, whether it is big criminal activities," he said. "We will be looking everywhere -- under the stones, everywhere in the air, on the sea."
With 41,000 additional police recruited for the competition, South Africa has one of the world's largest police forces relative to its population, national police chief Bheki Cele told SAPA.
"In the UK, 140,000 policemen for about 60 million people, in France 147,000 for 60 million and here, 186,000 for 47 million," Cele said.
Mthethwa said strong police visibility during the World Cup will deter criminals from targeting the more than 450,000 visitors expected during the month-long tournament.
"Through our own experience, where there is police visibility, there is a high level of crime prevention. We don't have to engage in operations to combat crime, we just prevent it," he said.
South Africa suffers an average of 50 killings a day, making it one of the most violent countries in the world. World Cup organizers have offered repeated assurances about safety, saying more than 2.4 billion rands (315 U.S. million dollars) has been spent on security.
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