There is no known terrorism threat to the Soccer World Cup, the national joint operational and intelligence centre said on Sunday.
The body said it “strongly disputed” a Sunday Times story which said South Africa had drawn up a watch-list of 40 terror suspects.
The newspaper said it had received two separate accounts of “at least one arrest linked to World Cup threats”.
It also said that “operational militant training camps” had been set up in several provinces.
The centre said the article was riddled with inaccuracies and most comments were from anonymous sources.
“Although the Natjoints is not prepared to discuss intelligence matters for obvious reasons, we can categorically deny the existence of a ‘watch-list of 40 terror suspects’ or the arrest of any person directly targeting the World Cup.
“We can also dispute the existence of operational militant training camps in several provinces in South Africa.”
The Sunday Times said the recent arrest in Iraq of Abdullah Azzam al-Qahtani, an alleged al-Qaeda supporter who claimed he was planning attacks on the Dutch and Danish teams, had revived debate on whether the tournament faces a threat of terrorism.
Qahtani’s scheme was later dismissed as posing no serious threat.
South African officials have long said their non-aligned status and a lack of any substantial local support for militant groups should insulate them from attacks during the June 11 to July 11 event.
‘80% chance of attack’
Both the government and Fifa, which is cooperating with foreign security agencies and Interpol, have helped strengthen that view by stating no viable threat had been identified.
However, analysts and security experts believe such actions cannot be ruled out because of the huge attention that even a small attack would get during the tournament.
Ronald Sandee, director of the Nefa Foundation, which investigates possible terrorist activities, briefed the United States Congress counter-terror caucus on possible threats to the tournament, the paper said.
He warned that Pakistani and Somali militants were running training camps in northern Mozambique and that trainees from these camps may have already crossed into South Africa to form or join cells planning attacks.
“I believe there is an 80% chance of an attack,” he told the paper, adding that strike teams were well established in South Africa. – Sapa