Sascoc apparently wastes R118 million as Durban loses Games
According to various reports, South Africa’s bungled Commonwealth Games bid will be confirmed in due course after the CGF met in London.
South Africa will not be hosting the 2022 Commonwealth Games, reports The Citizen.
According various reports, the president of the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc), Gideon Sam, unofficially confirmed that Durban had lost the hosting rights.
Sam is in London, where he attended an executive meeting of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) to determine whether a new host city had to be found.
The decision, while not official yet, will not come as a surprise.
Durban, the first African city to earn the rights for the Games, was facing financial constraints and stakeholders had missed various early deadlines set by the CGF.
Eighteen months after winning a lone bid, the hosting rights agreement had not been signed, payments had not been made to the international body and a local organising committee had not been formed.
Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula revealed recently that government, the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc), the City of Durban and the CGF remained at loggerheads after it was discovered the initial R6.4 billion budget wouldn’t be sufficient.
However, there be unhappiness over Sascoc allegedly spending R118 million on bid that stalled on the launchpad.
An official announcement is expected soon.
– Caxton News Service
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