The South African Police Service will deploy about 1 000 members to conduct inner perimeter security duties at Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg, for the match between Brazil and North Korea which will start at 20h30 today.
This follows a labour dispute between Stallion Security Consortium (Pty) Limited and stewards employed by the company.
A meeting between the South African Police Service and the Local Organising Committee (LOC) resulted in an interim arrangement of SAPS taking over the security detail at four stadia, In Durban, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town and Johannesburg in the interest of ensuring the safety of the world cup tournament.
The National Commissioner of the South African Police Service, General Bheki Cele, has expressed his satisfaction that the matches to be played in the stadia in these host cities will be secure and that the fans can enjoy the games in safety.
"We have activated necessary and adequate contingency plans to different stadia in the country. Our priority call of action according to our mandate is to ensure the safety of the tournament as per the security guarantees. We are confident that we will not compromise the safety of the tournament or our day to day normal policing", said Cele.
Meanwhile, the Eastern Cape police management experienced a few challenges with regards to meals and accommodation for the additional police members deployed at their stadium, but after discussions between all role players, the matter was amicably resolved.
Media contact:
Nonkululeko Mbatha
Cell: 083 645 6252
Sally de Beer
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Source: South African Police Service
