Durban loses rights to host 2022 Commonwealth Games
Durban has lost the rights to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games, the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) announced on Monday.
SASCOC president Gideon Sam confirmed the news in a telephone interview.
“This is a huge disappointment for us and for the whole African continent. But without the necessary government guarantees, we couldn’t move on,” the Commonwealth Games Federation vice-president told Reuters on Monday.
“Everybody was very excited to see the Commonwealth Games staged in Durban, which was very well equipped to host the event, but once the economics started to play a role, it became difficult.
“We had hoped to make this a Games for all of Africa, and so this is a very sad day for the whole continent.”
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Durban was awarded the 2022 showpiece in September 2015, being the only candidate remaining, after Edmonton of Canada withdrew.
This has been an embarrassing U-turn for the SA government after assuring the Commonwealth Games Federation committee last year that they were fully committed to hosting the Games.
The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) asked South Africa to fulfill contractual responsibilities by the end of November 2016. The deadline passed and the requirements were not met.
The CGF was in the process of reviewing a subsequent submission by Durban, but it was clear that it would be unsatisfactory, due to absence of the necessary financial guarantees and contingency funds.
South African sports minister Fikile Mbalula said on March 3 it was unlikely that Durban would hold onto hosting the event.
“We gave it our best but we can’t go beyond. If the country says we don’t have this money, we can’t host it,” said Mbalula.
“I don’t want to raise your expectations and say everything looks good, it doesn’t because we don’t agree on the fundamentals and that is the operational budget.”