Informing a Crime Strategy for the FIFA 2010 World Cup: a Case Study for the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Tshwane, South Africa

Of primary concern to the Local Organising Committee (LOC), and other associated 2010 FIFA World Cup partners, is the safety and security of local and international tourists attending 2010 FIFA World Cup football games in South Africa. For this purpose, place-specific stadium precinct plans are proposed per identified concentric ‘zone’ around each stadium. But what is the theoretical and informational base of this strategy? Moreover, can this strategy be sustained after the tournament or utilised in future sporting events at these stadiums? In this paper the authors argue that such a safety and security strategy should be informed by a comprehensive localised theory on crime and crime management in the country. Three important crime-related issues are investigated in this paper that we believe should form the backbone of such a strategy and associated theory: the location and propensity of crime, the location of offenders in the city, and the perceptions of local residents and users. The authors demonstrate the compilation of such an information triad with reference to the Loftus Versfeld stadium in Tshwane.