Wednesday’s presidential and parliamentary elections will determine South Africa’s mutli-sport event bid future, Around the Rings has learned.
IOC member Sam Ramsamy of South Africa says all discussions about bids for an Olympics or Commonwealth Games will start with new political leadership.
"I believe any decision that will be taken will have to be taken after that" he said of the elections.
"Without government support, without public support, we cannot go ahead with either the bidding or organizing events."
South Africa was asked to bid for the 2022 Commonwealth Games by the Commonwealth Games Federation and submitted its intent to bid. Canada also submitted an application.
Durban has expressed interest in bidding for the 2022 Commonwealth Games. The coastal city also had a short-lived 2020 Olympic campaign.
Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa’s two other major cities, have not expressed any interest in bidding for the moment due to the nascent status of bids.
"It would be a bit too premature at this stage to say which city would go for the Olympic Games," Ramsamy said.
Ideally for South Africa, Ramsamy said one city would bid for both the 2022 Commonwealth Games and the 2024 Olympic Games. However, he says "there is a lot of indecision" at the moment with regards to bidding.
The only known element is that South Africa’s Olympic Committee, which also organizes the country’s Commonwealth Games efforts, is conducting a formal report into a Commonwealth Games bid.
While a bid seems to rest in politicians hands, Ramsamy said he doesn’t get a sense that any candidates or political parties have "any particular leaning or inclination of one way or the other" for a bid, simply because the dialogue for a bid has not begun in earnest.
Written by Ed Hula III
Homepage photo: Getty Images
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