By Beauregard Tromp Pop sensation Shakira jetted into Joburg on Monday morning along with the German national team, but it was the overzealous police who managed to steal the show.

Police wrestled photographers who thronged around the diminutive Colombian singer as she emerged into an OR Tambo Airport terminal filled with Fifa 2010 World Cup euphoria.

Shakira is in town for the Official World Cup Kick-Off concert taking place at Orlando Stadium on Thursday.

She will perform alongside homegrown sensation Freshlyground, who she has collaborated.

with for the official World Cup song "This time for Africa", better known locally as "Waka Waka".

The official song has been somewhat overshadowed by K'naan's "Wave the Flag" and the unofficial World Cup anthem for South Africans, JR's "Show Dem".Reports from Germany suggested Shakira nearly missed her plane to Joburg, aptly named LH2010.

Which was also the inaugural flight for the carrier's Airbus A380 and also carried the German national team. Wearing jeans, a rhinestone jacket, heels and sunglasses, Shakira emerged to a crowd of foreigners arriving or awaiting friends, many wearing some form of national identification.

A phalanx of police officers stood ready to receive the "Hips don't Lie" singer, immediately creating a secure circle around her while policemen chased photographers away. Tourists and staff for various companies with stalls at the arrivals terminal quickly whipped out their cameras when they noticed the commotion.

A relative sense of order was restored when Shakira's publicist briefly stopped the mad rush towards the exit to allow for a photo opportunity, taken up by the eager photographers save one, who still had his head locked in a policeman's arm, despite his protestations.