Crime threatens 2010 World Cup - US envoy

The new US ambassador to South Africa said in an interview published that few would travel to the 2010 World Cup in the country if crime continued at current levels.

South Africa is battling some of the highest rates of murder and rape in the world and opposition groups and the media have accused the government of failing to curb crime.

"I look at things somewhat simplistically on occasion and the issue for me is this: who is going to be interested in spending a significant amount of money coming here on holiday, to have a good time, when you're concerned about the possibility of getting hurt?" ambassador Eric Bost said.

Bost, a black Republican, warned that crime was the first concern of nearly every ambassador he had met in South Africa, and of the US investor community.

He said his German equivalent had told him about a group of German tour operators who had visited South Africa soon after the 2006 World Cup, which was held in their country, to look at facilities that would be available to soccer tourists in 2010.

"They were robbed," he said, adding such tour operators were unlikely to encourage their nationals to visit South Africa.

Bost said his country wanted to work with South Africa on strategies to get more police onto the streets to fight crime.

South Africa has said it will spend 15.1 billion rand ($2.11 billion) on the 2010 World Cup, to ensure the first soccer World Cup on African soil would be a resounding success.

That figure includes 3.5 billion rand on fighting crime and improving the criminal justice system to combat violent crime, car hijackings and cash-in-transit heists.

The Treasury said it would use the cash to employ an extra 8,000 police officers and 2,000 civilians in police employment and to beef up the judiciary, prosecuting authority and legal aid systems, ahead of the world's biggest single sporting event.