Johannesburg - The organizers of the football World Cup in South Africa on Monday sought to ease concerns about the safety of visitors at the tournament, pointing to the relatively low incidence of crime at the Confederations Cup as proof there was nothing to fear.

The chief executive of the World Cup organizing committee Danny Jordaan and deputy police minister Fikile Mbalula were responding to questions from the international media as the Confederations Cup, a test run for the World Cup, passes the half-way mark.

"Overall the Confederations Cup has been successful from the point of view of security," Mbalula said in Johannesburg.

While there had been a few reported incidents of thefts or attempted theft, these were "isolated incidents" and not "major security breaches," he said.

The Egyptian team last week reported that some of the players' hotel rooms in Johannesburg had been burgled and cash amounting to around 2,400 dollars stolen while they were playing Italy.

That version of events was later cast into doubt, with several newspapers reporting they had in fact been relieved of their wallets by prostitutes.

Police couldn't be held responsible for players consorting with people that "turn out not to be security-friendly to you," Mbalula said.

"We can't follow you up to your hotel room."

The Brazilian team also reported that a jacket and some cash had been stolen from the rooms of some players at their Pretoria hotel last week.

"Thefts from hotels happened in Germany," Jordaan said, referring to the 2006 World Cup. "You can't leave it (money) on the table and go say you were robbed!"

South Africa's high crime rates hang over the country's preparations for the World Cup, being held for the first time in Africa.

Around 50 people are murdered each day and over 100,000 armed robberies are reported each year.

A Reuters journalist told the media briefing two young men, posing as car guards, had tried to extort money from himself and a German journalist after a game in Pretoria on Sunday night. The two men, who were unarmed, had gotten past security into the media car park.

Jordaan said the fact that government was pouring 3 billion rand into improving security was proof it took safety seriously.

Transport was another area needing attention before the World Cup, he said, following complaints from supporters about long delays in the stadium park-and-ride systems.

The absence of a good public transport system has been the main fly in the ointment at a generally well-run Confederations Cup, which is showcasing the unifying potential of the World Cup.

Although football is primarily the sport of the black majority, large numbers of whites have been turning up to games. At last week's game between Italy and South Africa, "you had every South African of every shade and colour in the stadium," Jordaan said.

Those scenes of interracial harmony, 14 years after the formal end of apartheid, was "the kind of society we worked hard for, that we struggled hard for," he said.(dpa)