Say no to World Cup

Just as our country was recently relieved to hear it would not be burdened by hosting the 2022 Commonwealth Games, this week Sport Minister Thulas Nxesi dropped another bombshell.

Nxesi, after meeting SA Rugby bosses, apparently gave a hint that the government would support the bid to host the Rugby World Cup (RWC) in 2023.

We recall that SA Rugby had been told by Fikile Mbalula, then sport minister, that they would not be given government support for their bid due to a glaring lack of transformation in their structures.

SA Rugby then went ahead and submitted a bid, but Nxesi, despite having been less than a month into the job, is now seemingly backtracking on the earlier declaration, claiming that hosting the RWC would contribute to “nation-building” as much as the Fifa World Cup did in 2010.

“We have the stadiums that were built for 2010 and the other infrastructure in place. For RWC 2023 you don’t have to start from scratch‚ so the cost would be reduced,” he was quoted as saying.

We are puzzled by this claim from Nxesi because, with our country having been downgraded to junk status, our fiscus might be under even more strain when the proposed World Cup comes here.

We thought the government made a good call to withdraw Durban from hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2022. For Nxesi to sing a different tune regarding the RWC, in the face of looming recession, is completely ill-advised. We urge the government not to burden the taxpayer with another expensive international tournament.