Image by Hert Niks
South Africa has named Durban as the main candidate city for its bid to host the 2036 or 2040 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, putting a city that lost the 2022 Commonwealth Games over financial guarantees at the centre of Africa’s first serious Olympic campaign in more than two decades. The bid will be built around the 56,000-seat Moses Mabhida Stadium, constructed for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
The decision was announced on Thursday by Lwandile Simelane, acting president of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC). She said Durban would lead the bid, but that it would likely be a “multi-city bid”, with some events proposed for other cities. Johannesburg and Cape Town were also considered as lead candidates.
Officials said they could not yet estimate what staging the Games would cost South Africa.
Seven countries in the race
South Africa is one of seven countries in continuous dialogue with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) over the 2036 Games, alongside India, Qatar, South Korea, Germany, Hungary and Türkiye. The IOC set October 31 as the deadline for new interested parties. Candidates present their projects to the IOC’s Future Host Commission in November, and the IOC Executive Board will draw up a shortlist in March 2027. IOC members are due to elect the 2036 host in mid-2029. The process also allows bidders to target 2040 and 2044.
A history of near misses
Durban, a city of approximately 4 million on the Indian Ocean coast, was floated as an Olympic host after the 2010 World Cup, but no formal bid emerged, largely over cost. In 2017 it lost the 2022 Commonwealth Games, which went to Birmingham, after failing to provide the financial and other guarantees required. Cape Town’s bid for the 2004 Olympics lost to Athens.
The choice of Durban narrows a plan that, as recently as early October, was described as a joint effort across Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, with some reporting suggesting Cape Town would lead. It also comes as SASCOC operates under interim leadership, president Barry Hendricks was suspended in September pending an internal process, with Simelane, the first vice-president, assuming his duties.
The 2036 bid itself was paused in mid-2025 before Cabinet endorsed continued talks with the IOC that November, keeping both 2036 and 2040 open.
Existing venues, open questions on funding
Durban’s case rests on reuse. Moses Mabhida is already built, and the IOC now weighs funding strategy, political and public support and legacy plans heavily when assessing bids, which favours candidates that are not starting from scratch. A coastal city with an existing World Cup stadium is a cheaper story to tell than a new Olympic park.
The weakness is the one that cost Durban in 2017. Without a cost estimate or a stated funding model, the bid cannot yet show the IOC who carries the risk, and the Commonwealth Games episode will be the first reference point for evaluators. The national government, eThekwini municipality and KwaZulu-Natal province will need to put guarantees on paper well before 2028, when preferred hosts enter targeted dialogue.
Why 2040 may be the real target
Realistically, 2040 looks like the stronger target. India and Qatar are widely seen as front-runners for 2036 and have been campaigning for years. A credible 2036 showing, though, would put South Africa in pole position for the next cycle, and the bid work itself opens commercial lines in venue upgrades, transport, hospitality and sponsorship long before any vote. The timing has symbolic weight too. The Youth Olympic Games open this weekend in Dakar, Senegal, the first Olympic event staged in Africa.
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