Five reasons why losing the 2022 Commonwealth Games was actually a good thing

South Africa lost the right to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games on Monday and the cries of despair could be heard from Durban to Cape Town.

While the image of the country will no doubt take a beating after this week's events‚ some of us will not shed a tear after missing out and we're actually planning to put on party hats and blow whistles at the news.

Five reasons why losing the bid is actually a good thing

1) The billions that would have been used in Durban could be allocated to NSFAS and other important government service delivery projects

South African institutions of higher learning burned last year as tertiary students embarked on the at times violent #FeesMustFall protests.

Now that South Africa will no longer be hosting the event‚ a bit of spare change has suddenly become available and it could be directed towards National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) funding and other service delivery programmes.

• COMMENTARY: The cost of Durban losing the Commonwealth GamesWhen one counts the cost of losing the 2022 Commonwealth Games‚ you can start with Ricardo and Miranda Malajika. 

2) White elephants

Sporting infrastructure could have been improved in Durban but major events often leave behind a legacy of white elephants.

Hell‚ a number of municipalities around the country are still struggling to maintain some of the stadiums that were built for the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

3) Tender corruption and irregular spending avoided

Corruption and irregular spending are never too far away from the organisation of major events and given that the Games would have cost more than R8-billion‚ Lord knows what was about to go down in Durban.

It's bad enough that you and me forked out nearly R120-million during the bidding process when we were the sole bidders.

4) South Africa had not started building any infrastructure

• Birmingham, Liverpool interested in hosting 2022 Commonwealth GamesThe English cities of Birmingham and Liverpool have expressed interest in hosting the 2022 Commonwealth Games after Durban was stripped of the right on Monday. 

Though South Africa had already spent between R100 and R120 million on the bidding processes‚ fortunately the local organizing committee had not been established and no infrastructure had been built yet.

Initially‚ South Africa had committed to spending around R4 billion to stage the event and then the costs started to climb at the speed of a Gautrain.

5) It looks like the South African government is being careful about tax payers money

Government’s refusal to accede to some of the demands made by the Commonwealth Games Federation at least gives an impression that they are finally handling tax payer’s money a bit more carefully.

- TMG Digital/TMG Sport