While the Durban bid committee for the 2022 Commonwealth Games is confident the city will be awarded the games, it is still waiting for the finance ministry to sign off the national government’s guarantee for the amount it is to contribute.
This has been confirmed by bid committee spokesman Faizal Dawjee, who said most of the guarantees were in place and the final one would be from the minister of finance.
Dawjee commented after news yesterday that Durban had experienced some challenges in getting a financial guarantee from the government.
Durban bid committee chief executive Tubby Reddy said the city might have to sign a “conditional” agreement with the Commonwealth Games Federation next month if, as expected, it is to be awarded the games.
The report said Reddy did not expect to have a guarantee letter from South Africa’s finance ministry covering the cost of the games by September 2, when the federation votes to award the games.
He said Durban would then have 90 days from the hosting decision to acquire the financial guarantees.
Dawjee said: “We are confident that within that time we will provide the guarantee.
“At the moment we are in the process of negotiating with the different sectors in the government including the treasury.”
He said they had had discussions with the government, “and it is the Minister of Sports and Recreation Fikile Mbalula who has been conducting discussions with the minister of finance”.
Last month, eThekwini spokeswoman Tozi Mthethwa said all costs for hosting the 2022 Commonwealth Games, should the Durban bid be successful, would be split between the national government, provincial government, the eThekwini Municipality and the South African Sports Olympic Committee.
The country has budgeted R6.4 billion to prepare and host the games.
Durban was the only candidate after Edmonton, Canada, withdrew.
Last week, the eThekwini Municipality welcomed the recommendation by the evaluation commission that its general assembly should vote in favour of Durban’s bid to host the games.
The report of the commission, chaired by its honorary secretary, Louise Martin CBE, was the outcome of detailed independent assessments of Durban’s bid proposal, on-site meetings and detailed review workshops with members of Durban’s bid committee and government and city partners. - The Mercury