To the strains of the South African anthem, President Zuma kicked a ball into cheering crowds in a half-finished stadium yesterday, starting the final countdown for the football World Cup next year.

Exactly 365 days before the opening game of the first such tournament hosted by an African nation Mr Zuma, who used to play football as a prisoner under apartheid, declared: “We have made it.”

The ceremony at the 68,000-seat Green Point Stadium in Cape Town, being built on a spectacular site in the shadow of Table Mountain, was intended to send a defiant message to sceptics who thought that South Africa would not be able to make it.

“There is no longer any doubt that we will meet all the deadlines,” Mr Zuma said as he set the countdown clock ticking. “Many said we would not succeed but South Africans have proved they can rise to the challenge.” Eight new or revamped stadiums are nearly ready to receive 450,000 football fans, many of whom will come from abroad.

Doubts about how they will fare linger, with crime topping the list of concerns. Johannesburg, which hosts the opening and final game, has been dubbed the murder capital of the world. Across the country, 50 people are murdered every day, and about 50,000 rapes are reported annually.

In the cities violent crime is out of control. Houses are surrounded by high walls topped by electric fences to keep out marauding bands of robbers.

“Women, young girls and even men and boys are not safe anymore,” said Mokotedi Mpshe, the head of the National Prosecuting Authority, at a conference this week. About 50 bank cash dispensers are blown up every month by criminal syndicates.

The fear is that international football fans, new to the country, will not understand everyday survival rules — second nature to residents — and will wander into situations and places where they will be robbed or killed.

The Government and the South African Football Association have embarked on a huge security venture that will have a trial run when the eight-nation Fifa Confederations Cup begins on Sunday. The national police spokesman, Superintendent Vishnu Naidoo, said: “The Indian Cricket Premier League, our general election in April and the presidential inauguration in Pretoria were all used as dress rehearsals for the 2010 extravaganza.

“Those were all executed extremely successfully and, based on these experiences, I can confidently say that the 2010 event will go off well.” He said that 51,000 police would be on duty throughout the World Cup, and 8,000 of those were being trained in the latest crowd control methods.

Not everyone is reassured, however. Nick Buckles, the chief executive of the British-based G4S, the biggest security firm in the world, said that his company’s South African branch would steer clear of the World Cup. He described South Africa as the most dangerous country in the world, where G4S staff suffered two fatalities a month. “We are not going to be involved because we don’t think security is going to be that good,” he said.

The sporting establishment disagrees. Gary Bailey, a former England goalkeeper who is now one of South Africa’s top sports commentators, said: “We will host the best tournament ever. Perhaps not slicker or more punctual but much more fun.”

The expensive game

— The 19th World Cup, Africa’s first and the biggest sporting event held on the continent, starts June 11, 2010

— The tournament’s mascot is Zakumi, a leopard with green hair

— Teams already qualified are South Africa (hosts), Australia, Japan, Holland and South Korea

— Number of tickets sold so far is 630,021 (42,907 from Britain)

— Rankings are Spain 1st, Italy (current champions) 4th, England 6th, South Africa 72nd

— Cost of tickets vary from the cheapest of $20 for locals to $900

— Construction and renovation costs estimated at £650 million

— Commercial revenue already made by Fifa estimated at £2.4bn

Sources: Fifa, Times database

Times Recommends

• 'New York has lost its edge'
• Copenhagen will fail – and quite right too
• More than 17,000 new underwater species found