Private security firms get big play at the World Cup (News Feature)

By Clare Byrne May 26, 2010, 5:26 GMT

Johannesburg - They guard millions of South Africans every day, including the police. Now, foreign football fans and media are also turning to the country's legions of private security companies for protection during the World Cup.

For the six years since it won the right to host the first World Cup on the African continent, South Africa, which has some of the world's highest rates of violent crime, has been trying to reassure the world it can safely host the mammoth tournament.

As proof the country can pull it off, the organizers point to the 41 major events, including two World Cups (cricket and rugby) South Africa has successfully hosted since democracy in 1994. They also point out that the 9 million people who visit South Africa each year are mostly untouched by crime.

'We'll be ready for any eventuality in air, water, on land,' national police commissioner Bheki Cele says confidently.

But foreign players, visitors and media are dubious.

Despite the tough talk from police, the murder rate of 50 a day remained unchanged last year and, carjackings and sexual offences soared.

With trained bodyguards available for around 300 euros a day, those who can afford it are turning to South Africa's parallel private army for protection.

'We're at the stage where we're turning clients away,' Bob Nicholls, founder of Nicholls Steyn & Associates, one of South Africa's top VIP protection firms told the German Press Agency dpa.

Nicholls says the company, which has the security contract for the Indian Premier League (cricket) and has also worked on the Oscars, has been hired to protect thousands of visitors, ranging from the 'super-rich and very high-end business people' to groups of up to 50 corporate ticket-holders and their families.

Some clients have asked for bullet-proof or stab-proof vests, he says. Nicholls Steyn is not recommending them, he says. The same goes for armoured vehicles. They're the exception, rather than the rule.

Last year, a German security company drew fire for reportedly recommending that Germany's players don flak jackets when venturing outside their hotel.

Most experts dismissed the suggestion as hysterical.

'If the risk is so high you need a bullet-proof vest, we'd have to ask ourselves why we're going there,' says Guy Nicholls, chief executive of Pasco, another leading VIP security company.

'We've got groups of over 100 coming,' says British-born Guy Nicholls, whose clients include the English Football Association and a number of foreign media teams and whose demands range from drivers trained in evasive techniques to bodyguards and rapid response teams that can be summoned by pressing a panic device.

South Africa's department of labour counts over 4,700 registered security firms employing over 300,000 people to guard homes and businesses - even police stations. A number of the companies are owned by white ex-soldiers and special forces members, who entered the private sector after the end of apartheid.

Not surprisingly, some in the industry see the World Cup as a chance to coin it - even if it means bending the truth a little.

'Tourists become car-hijack victims en-route near the airports every single day' - a company calling itself World Cup Security tells visitors to its website.

Offering crack round-the-clock security for groups, the company, which lists only an email contact, warns: 'South African criminals are usually armed, and sometimes totally ruthless. So are we, but with a low profile!'

Some companies claiming years of experience are also reportedly rushing men through crash courses.

'We're aware of people using guys still being trained between now and the World Cup,' says Bob Nicholls.

The majority of the 300,000 foreign fans expected at the World Cup, will, however be putting their safety in the hands of the police

South Africa is dedicating 44,000 police to the event as part of a 1.3 billion-rand (164-million-dollar) security plan that was four years in the making and has been given the thumbs-up by FIFA and Interpol.

The police will be supported by 200-strong high-tech rapid intervention units in all 11 provinces, some of whom showed off their skills at rappelling down buildings and jumping out of helicopters at a recent display in Johannesburg.

Ironically, South African police were caught unawares the same day by reports that a Saudi suspected al-Qaeda operative had been arrested in Iraq for allegedly plotting to attack the World Cup.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq has since denied involvement in any World Cup plot while FIFA said it was unaware of any real threat to the tournament.