Blatter slams South Africa's world cup critics

FIFA president Joseph Blatter has lashed out at critics of South Africa's ability to host this summer's World Cup in the wake of the terror attack on the Togo football team at last month's Africa Cup of Nations in neighbouring Angola.

"Its a nonsense to combine what has happened in Angola with a terrorist attack and link it to the South Africa World Cup," the head of football's ruling body told German Press Agency dpa Thursday in Vancouver ahead of Friday's opening ceremony for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

"11 million tourists travel every year to South Africa," Blatter added.

"Last week an ATP tournament was played in Johannesburg, and they didn't die."

Blatter's comments come in the wake of remarks by German Football League (DFL) boss Reinhard Rauball, who demanded South Africa take action following the attack in Angola.

"It's kind of an anti-Africa movement, this is not right," Blatter told dpa.

"There is still in the so called 'old world' a feeling that why the hell should South Africa organize a World Cup. Why the hell? "

"It was easier for them to go down to Africa, the colonialists in the past hundred years, to take out all the best, and now to take out all the best footballers.

"And when you have to give something back they don't want to go.

"What's that? It is a lack of respect, a lack of respect for the whole of Africa."

The reality is however that South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world and South Africans who live in the suburbs generally live behind high walls with electric fences on top their walls and they are still regularly broken into and often tied up while thieves randsack their homes.

The police cannot keep South African residents safe in their homes and private security company protect and patrol most suburban neighbourhoods.

When Blatter visits South Africa he is constantly surrounded by security and police. The South African public are not afforded the same luxuries and neither will the majority of the tourists who visit the country to attend the world cup which has to impact on the success of the world cup.

Whilst the ATP tournament was held in Johannesburg last week, a local paper has this week named an intersection around 1km away from the tennis venue as a major high-jacking zone.