The 2010 Fifa World Cup will not be hit by a backlash to the murder of AWB leader Eugene Terre'Blanche, organising committee CEO Danny Jordaan said in Johannesburg on Thursday.
"No. It's not going to happen," he said at a press briefing in response to questions about a feared bloodbath in the country.
Just after the murder, the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) warned it would avenge the killing and cautioned soccer fans to think twice about visiting "a land of murder". It later retracted the threat, explaining it was made in the heat of the moment.
Nonetheless, at least one international online newspaper has reported that fans coming to South Africa faced a "machete blood bath". They had been advised to give away their tickets and not come to South Africa under any circumstances.
Fifa secretary-general Jérôme Valcke said the tournament security office had not received any specific threat. Any that were received would be dealt with by security and not made public. He said Interpol's head of operations Chris Eaton was advising Fifa and the international policing agency was sending more than 200 officials to assist in security matters.
