Visiting here today for the formal launch of Durban's 2022 Commonwealth Games bid - which is unopposed and hence has a strong chance of winning - Mbalula said: "I think the Olympics - one day we will bid.

"The question is time and space.

"In 2024 it will be quite unrealistic because we would have just staged the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

"So I think the Olympics will come later."

South Africa is focusing on the opportunities provided by Durban being the only remaining bidder for the 2022 Commonwealth Games ©Getty Images



Boston and Rome are to contest the 2024 race.

They will be joined by Hamburg or Berlin, probably Paris and perhaps others.

Mbalula said the 2010 World Cup had brought "enormous quick wins" for South Africa.

The associated infrastructure construction had helped to cushion the economy from the global recession.

"The World Cup has been good at addressing the stigma in perceptions of what South Africa is all about," he said.

For example, the perception of the country as a "crime capital" had "subsided".

Mbalula stated that the South African Government "fully supports" the Commonwealth Games bid.

Contact the writer of this story at david.owen@insidethegames.biz


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