Games too expensive for Durban

SOUTH Africa’s sports minister, Fikile Mbalula announced this week that Durban could lose the chance of hosting the 2022 Commonwealth Games due to the cost of staging the event.

Durban was awarded the Commonwealth Games in 2015 after being the only city to make a bid. In December 2016, South African officials reported that despite falling short in requirements to host the games, they remained committed to hosting the event. However, this week, Mbalula said the government didn’t agree on the fundamendals of hosting the event, including the operational budget.

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Following the address by Mbalula, the national sports ministry said there were ongoing talks between government, through the Department of Sport and Recreation and the Federation. He said unless both parties could find common ground on cost-cutting measures, there was a possibility that government would not host the event.

In 2015, a budget proposal of over R1-billion was approved by the City’s executive committee for Durban to host the games. At the time, it was expected the City would only contribute R543-million, a small portion of the R3.4-billion proposed operating and capital cost of the event. Later in the year, eThekwini reported it had contributed R17.5-million as part of the shared costs with provincial government, but that all costs would be split between the municipality, national and provincial government and Sascoc.

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Malula said the government gave it their ‘best shot’, however if there were not enough funds to the host the event, it could not go ahead. He said a final decision would be made by the Commonwealth Games Federation at a meeting this month.

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