Mbalula 'regrets' blowing R118-million on commonwealth bid, but remains defiant
'Any loss of money is regrettable. Don't take it that R118 million lost means nothing; it means a lot. We went out of our way to secure the games - but not at all costs'
"We can't be duped‚ we can't be manipulated‚ we can't be threatened." With these words‚ sports minister Fikile Mbalula said the South African government wanted to host the Commonwealth Games‚ but it would be forced to pay over the odds to do so. At a press conference in Durban on Tuesday‚ Mbalula - a strong supporter of the Durban 2022 games - said that increased demands from the Commonwealth Games Federation meant the event was out of the country's financial reach. Speaking after his director-general‚ Alec Moemi‚ had earlier confirmed that the country had spent R118 million on the bid to this point‚ Mbalula said that government had the country's best interests at heart. "Any loss of money is regrettable. Don't take it that R118 million lost means nothing; it means a lot. We went out of our way to secure the games - but not at all costs. We cannot say to government that it must spend money it did not have.
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