THE MASSIVE increase in visible policing around the World Cup has had the effect of reducing crime in many of South Africa’s urban areas, according to a private security company and Fifa’s local organising committee. As well as creating a safe environment for most of the hundreds of thousands of foreign fans, the increased police presence has also been accredited with reducing house break-ins and violent crime in suburbia.

Officials from ADT, one of the country’s most high-profile armed response security companies, told South African newspaper Beeld that reported crimes in Pretoria and Johannesburg, where many of the matches were played, have dropped by up to 70 per cent.

The African continent’s largest economy has one of the highest murder rates in the world outside a war zone, with statistics showing more than 18,000 murders in the 12 months to March. Before the tournament began, many local and international security analysts warned South Africa’s high crime rates could have an extremely negative impact on the country’s image if visiting fans were excessively targeted.

However, yesterday, Fifa’s local organising committee chief Danny Jordaan confirmed the level of crime around the World Cup had been incredibly low. “It had been perhaps the lowest of any World Cup,” he said. “The police were efficient and the special courts were effective . . . The question is how do we maintain this? It is a challenge to us all in South Africa to maintain that,” he said.