Following a progress report Wednesday on South Africa’s bid to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games, the Portfolio Committee on Sport and Recreation voiced its satisfaction with Durban’s state of readiness to bid.
Director-General of Sport and Recreation, Mokoditloa Moemi, reported that the Department of Sport and Recreation is convinced that Moses Mabhida stadium in Durban has the capacity to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games. He also said that Durban already meets many of the requirements in the bid book.
As for cost, Moemi said the Games will be affordable as the department does not have to build significant infrastructure. “We have already done what we call an infrastructure gap analysis where we look at the venue and at the guarantees required in the bid book. We then say ‘what will it take for this venue to meet the obligations for the requirement of the guarantee?'”.
The committee was also told that hosting the Games will be a stepping stone to a future Olympic bid for Durban.
A vote by member states of the Commonwealth for a candidate to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games is expected at a General Assembly on September 2, 2015 in Auckland, New Zealand.
Moemi said, “there is only one candidate they can potentially vote for and that is Durban”.
Edmonton, Canada dropped out of the running last year due to budget concerns created by falling world oil prices.
