DURBAN - The Minister of Sport, Fikile Mbalula, on Tuesday said the South African government did not want to bankrupt the country by being bullied into signing a Commonwealth Games hosting agreement it could not afford.
The cabinet had approved funding for the Games of R4.32 billion, but refused to sign the host city agreement because “clauses in the agreement were seriously going to compromise South Africa and the government was not prepared to sign an open-ended guarantee”.
Mbalula said the host city agreement tabled by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) indicated that the government should meet any potential shortfall in the budget for the Organising Committee arising from preparations for and the hosting of the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
It also required that the government guarantee subsidies and rental costs related to the Commonwealth Games Village.
“We can’t say to our government that it must spend money that it does not have. We could do that with the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup with Sepp Blatter (then the Fifa supremo) hovering above us saying we needed extra stadiums, but we are not in 2010. This is 2017 and we are much wiser and can’t be getting into things that will hurt the country’s economy in the long term.”
Mbalula was speaking at a press briefing in Durban a day after the CGF announced its decision to strip Durban and South Africa of the hosting rights of the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
“We can’t make the country bankrupt with hosting the Commonwealth Games. Greece is still bankrupt because of the Olympics (in 2004). You can imagine if we go bankrupt because of the Commonwealth Games, you will be toyi-toying every day and say that Mbalula can’t think,” he said.
With the custodians of global rugby, the International Rugby Board (IRB), currently in South Africa to assess the country’s infrastructure and capacity to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup, Mbalula also said the CGF’s decision would not tarnish South Africa as a premier sporting destination.
“We will keep soldiering on and will get our opportunity next time, probably not by us, but generations to come.
“South Africa is still the best destination in the world to host major events. “He also said after hosting events like the 2010 Fifa World Cup and the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, the government had now become strategic in its bidding priorities and would not just bid for any event that is tabled.
“This decision is regrettable because with what we had budgeted we could have delivered a spectacular Games that would be remembered for being held for the first time in Africa.”
Tubby Reddy, chief of the South African Sports Committee and Olympic Confederation (Sascoc), said although they were disappointed they had to look at the decision from a “sanity perspective” as the government could not go over its budget, particularly with community priorities in mind.
The city’s deputy mayor, Fawzia Peer, said Durban would have loved to host the Commonwealth Games on behalf of South Africa and the African continent.
Picture: Brian Spurr
“But I think it’s very important for us to consider that we have huge financial commitments in terms of socio-economic needs that come first.
“Durban also believes that fiscal discipline is prudent.”
She added that on a trip to Glasgow in 2014, where Durban indicated its interest in hosting the Games, delegates had suggested that the bidding should be scrapped and each continent given a chance to host the event.