Morale boost will be worth cost of games

THE choice of Durban as the host of the 2022 Commonwealth Games is something to celebrate. For a depressed country — with a struggling economy and a divided society, especially over sport — the event promises to give us something that could, once again, bring us together as a nation.

While the games will not be as momentous as the 1995 Rugby World Cup, or come anywhere close to bringing back the spirit of “Philip” that infused South Africa during the 2010 Soccer World Cup, we do need something to drive national pride once again.

The unravelling of the “rainbow nation” and lack of social cohesion among South Africans places our country at a tipping point where we could either continue to be the envy of the world or become another failed project.

Sport has proved to be a unifier before and this time should be no different.

Team South Africa have not done well in previous games — we managed only 40 medals in Glasgow, compared with the overall winner, England, with 174 medals.

But if history is anything to go by, our chances, as hosts, look good.

When India hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2010, their team won 101 medals, double their 2006 tally of 50 in Melbourne. Scotland did the same last year — bagging 53 medals, compared with the 26 they managed in 2010.

Anything to uplift our national spirit, but it will come at a price.

Concerns about the projected R6-billion price tag for hosting the games — although sponsors will contribute a significant portion — are understandable, especially at a time that our economy is struggling amid questions about misplaced priorities.

The announcement of Durban as host came on the heels of news that our economy had shrunk by 1.3% in the second quarter of 2015, with further projections that we will not meet our modest economic growth target of 3% this year.

Assurances by the organisers that they will curb expenditure — most of the infrastructure already exists — ring hollow considering how much previous hosts forked out. Glasgow spent R10billion while Delhi spent R55-billion.

We have been down this road before. Initial cost estimates for the 2010 World Cup were R2.3-billion, a figure revised to R15-billion in 2006. In the end we forked out way more than R30-billion.

But if the games leave behind improved infrastructure, the warm glow will have been worth it.