Bullets Fly Near WC2010 Teams

Cops Shot as SA Lives Up to Reputation
Reality Hits and Teams Take Cover
Armed robbers killed one police officer and wounded another on Saturday in a shoot-out on a highway next to the base camp for several football World Cup squads.

A spokesperson for the Gauteng police said the officers came under fire south of Jo'burg after cornering two cash-in-transit vehicles which had been hijacked by the robbers. "Two police officers were shot, one was killed and one was injured when they responded to a cash-in-transit robbery," said Colonel Noxolo Kweza. Two guards were also injured in the shootout and the robbers escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash.

It was the first brush with the violent reality of South Africa for several international teams, including Mexico (where the incident has also a familiar ring) and Ivory Coast: gangs hijacking cars, kidnapping people, police exchange gunfire, coppers pinned or shot down and gangsters escape.
The shooting took place on the Maraisburg slipway off the main N1 highway which is next to the bases for both Mexico and Ivory Coast during the tournament which kicks off next weekend. High crime rate remains the chief concern in the run-up to the World Cup taking place in a country which has a murder rate of around 50 a day.

Eastern Cape Shootings Leave Several Dead

Two people were killed and a third critically injured in separate shooting incidents between police and alleged robbers in NU16, Mdantsane, in the Eastern Cape. Captain Mluleki Mbi said the shooting took place when police searched for suspects linked to armed robberies in the area over the last few weeks. "In the morning as police were patrolling, a number of robbers who were hiding in the bushes shot at them... police then returned fire killing one suspect and critically wounding the other," Mbi said. A few hours later, following a tip-off, another suspect was shot dead in the same area after he opened fire at police.

In another incident - to round out a regular day in the life of South Africans - a man was killed in a shoot-out with police at a spaza shop in Willowvale, Eastern Cape. "Three men went to the Jabula Trading Store at 2.30 am on Saturday. They shouted for the owners, who live on the property, to give them money. One of the men who own the shop called the police," said police spokesperson, Captain Jackson Manatha. Once police arrived, a shoot-out between the robbers and police ensued, and one of the hoodlums was killed.