Thaindian News

London, Sep 23 (IANS) As South Africa gets ready to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the rise in crime is casting doubt on official promises that the tens of thousands of fans heading there next summer will be welcome and safe.
The Guardian said Wednesday that despite a three percent drop in the murder rate, police statistics revealed an increase in sex offences, including rape, as well as a dramatic rise in burglaries.

The daily reported that in Rustenburg, England’s base in the tournament, cases of sex crimes, assault, robbery with aggravating circumstances and kidnapping all increased on the previous year.

According to latest reports, sex crimes have also increased in the police precincts of Cape Town central, Durban central, Johannesburg central, Nelspruit, Polokwane, and Pretoria central, which are all certain to receive football supporters from around the world.

South Africa’s crime rate is among the highest in the world and remains one of the major cause overshadowing the biggest sporting event to be held on the African continent.

“With the 2010 World Cup fast approaching, the usual rhetoric and empty promises must once and for all be brought to an end. We need more police, and better training; we need to deal with the backlog of 20,000 forensic laboratory samples; we need the reconstitution of specialised units, and an end to cadre deployment within our police service,” Dianne Kohler Barnard, an opposition Democratic Alliance MP, was quoted as saying by the daily.

Statistics for the 2008-09 financial year showed that 2.1 million serious crimes were recorded. Violent crime in general was down 2.8 percent, but the overall crime level rose by 0.2 percent.