SASCOC CEO Jafta unpacks South Africa’s Olympic Games bidding process

South Africa is competing against seven other potential host cities, including Germany and Qatar, with Durban hoping to become the first African city to host the prestigious global sporting event.

Jafta says SASCOC initially had three cities, Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town to consider before a lengthy evaluation process saw Durban emerge as the preferred host city.

The official bidding process will now get underway later this month in Switzerland, marking the next important step in South Africa’s Olympic ambitions.

"It's a big one for us, I mean, we've raised our hands as a country to host the 2036-2040 Olympics and Paralympic Games. We are in the continuous dialogue phase, which is the first phase of the process, and one of the deliverables during this phase is the announcement, or the identification and announcement of the preferred host city, which is what we're announcing today. So we've gone through a full independent process where we actually invited the different provinces," said Jafta

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"Three provinces raised their hands, and those are the three cities that were being evaluated for this process. And I must confess, all of them did exceptionally well, and unfortunately, we have to have one. We have to identify one city. And as we have said during the press conference, that Durban was chosen because of the compact nature of their proposal and what their proposal has covered.

"So we're quite comfortable that the independent panel has done a great job in identifying Durban as that city that will engage now with us going forward as the preferred host city.

Jafta, who has more than 20 years of experience in sports administration, has outlined the next steps in the bidding process, with another important announcement expected in March 2027.

She says the journey is only beginning, with several stages still to be completed before South Africa can know whether it has a realistic chance of hosting the Games.

The Olympic Games are traditionally held in July or August, which falls during winter in South Africa. 

However, SASCOC believes Durban’s warmer weather could work in the city’s favour.

Jafta says the possibility of hosting the Games during the South African winter is still being considered as part of the ongoing evaluation process.

If successful, South Africa could host the Olympic Games in either 2036 or 2040.

Jafta says it is too early to discuss the financial details of hosting the Olympic Games, but acknowledges that the costs will run into billions of rands.

She admits that hosting an event of this magnitude does not come cheap, with several financial considerations still needing to be addressed.