A salute to The Man

The newspapers here are filled with laments of last nights loss by South Africa, but getting past the front page has more stories on security. Reports say that some of the old security guards were hired a week before the World Cup, which wouldn't have left them time to have proper background checks by South Africa's National Intelligence Agency. In truth, some of the security provided by the security company may have been an illusion. At the Netherlands-Denmark game, I passed through the metal detector and went ding. When the guard approached to frisk me, I showed my metal belt buckle and he waved me past.

But the local police have stepped up. Their thouroughness has slowed entrance at the gates of stadiums, but it's certainly for the better. All of their personal leave has been cancelled and they're working 10-12 hour shifts; sacrificing to keep things safe. There are also reports that crime reports, which normally dip in May and June anyways, are down even more and they credit the increased police presence as a deterrent. Yesterday, at the Durban fan zone, we saw groups of twenty or so uniformed police being walked through the area and being briefed on how to do security. We left before the late, hectic game between South Africa and Uruguay, but reports say that 45,000 showed up at the fan zone and eventually the police had to close the gates to further admittance. Still, they say a hundred or so crashed the gates to get into the already crowded fan zone.