Mr Taiboys to plead again with Rugby Union to stop tour

Press, 28 November 1980, Page 1

Mr Taiboys to plead again with Rugby Union to stop tour

PA Wellington The Minister of Foreign Affairs (Mr Taiboys) intends writing to. the Rugby Union Council again to make “a further earnest plea” to it to review its . Springbok tour decision. . The letter will be timed to reach the council before its December 5 meeting,, and Mr Taiboys said it would also, draw attention to yesterday’s statement by the Supreme Council ot Sport in Africa. ' ' Mr Taiboys last evening described that statement as having “disquieting implications” and said it was “saddening” that the Supreme Council should have “so little regard for the' genuineness and. effectiveness of New Zealand’s long commitment against apartheid in sport.” In its statement, the Supreme Council said a Springbok ;tour next year would be regarded as a hostile act against Africa. If New Zealand again chose to defy world opinion. she must accept full responsibility for. the consequences of her actions, - it said. ' The statement was issued through- the London

office of the South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee over the signatures of the president of the Supreme Council, Mr Abraham Ordia, and the secreta r y-general, Mr Lamine Ba. New Zealand should heed the advice of the Commonwealth SecretaryGeneral, Sir Shridath Ramphal, and -of world opinion generally, and cancel the tour, they said. If the tour proceeded, it would be a violation of the Gleneagles Agreement, made in 1977, and the Lusaka declaration made last year. “New Zealand has always told the world that she could not stop her sportsmen going out to play where they liked, as that would be unconstitutional,” the statement said. “But .it is not sportsmen who control visas. The New Zealand Government is called on to refuse visas to the racist South African team. If Australia and Canada can refuse visas, why cannot New Zealand?” The council said the action of New Zealand had affected the Olympic Games at Montreal in .1976. and the 1978 Com-

monwealth Games at Edmonton. . “It is sincerely hoped that she will not also complicate ; the Commonwealth Games at Brisbane in 1982.” . The chairman of. the South African committee. Mr Sam Ramsamy, said the statement was milder in its wording than one which had- been issued before the tour of South Africa by the British Lions earlier this year. Mr Taiboys said the Rugby.- Union’s invitation had been issued against the advice and repeatedly

expressed wish of the Government, which was fully aware of its obligations under the Gleneagles Agreement and the Lusaka declaration. .Since the Gleneagles Agreement, no New Zealand national team had competed in South Africa, no team .claiming to represent South Africa had visited New Zealand, and there had been no other main sports contact between the two countries, he said. “This result has been achieved within the Government’s policy which has been carefully explained to the Commonwealth, the United Nations, and to the Supreme Council itself, that - New Zealand sports bodies 3te free to make their own decisions,” Mr Taiboys said. “It is a simple matter to call upon a Government to abridge the freedoms of its citizens. That is not our tradition.

“New Zealand sportsmen have shown that their attachment to multiracialism and their_ opposition to apartheid in sport can be effectively expressed through the exercise of their own free and

responsible choice,” Mr Taiboys said. The Minister said those who themselves were fighting for freedom from apartheid might have been expected to give credit for that. ' The great majority of New Zealanders had given up all sports contact with South Africa, as they had given up the Olympic Games at Moscow of their own decision. "Has any country, using compulsion, done better?” he said. Mr Taiboys said he, therefore, rejected as unjustified any assertion or imputation that New Zealand had sought to defy world or African opinion or had failed to honour its international commitments and obligations. The facts were otherwise. However, he said it was equally a fact that the proposed rugby tour was a cause of grave and widespread concern to all those who were opposed to apartheid or mindful of New Zealand’s international reputation. Mr. Taiboys said he had emphasised to the Rugby Union the seriousness of its decision,