The city of Durban has been put forward as the main organizing city for an ambitious campaign to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games on African soil for the first time, either in 2036 or 2040.
The formal bid was submitted to the Olympic House in Johannesburg on Thursday. This was done by the current president of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC), Lwandile Simelane, and the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Gethon Mackenzie, after receiving approval from the national Cabinet.
This historic project, preliminarily valued at 500 billion rand, plans to utilize the existing infrastructure of the 2010 FIFA World Cup stadiums in three major urban centers. This approach fully complies with the strict criteria of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) regarding sustainable development and economic efficiency.
South Africa joins a group of seven countries, including Qatar, India, Germany, and Turkey. SASCOC will conduct virtual presentations before the IOC Future Host Commission in November 2026. This will be followed by formal feasibility reviews concluding in March 2027, and the final vote for the host country in 2029.