International call on tour discounted

Press, 30 May 1981, Page 6

International call on tour discounted

PA ' : Wellington The International Conference on Sanctions against South Africa in Paris this week, did not have much status, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Mr Taiboys) yesterday. He said it had been attended largely by protest groups and non-governmen-tal organisations. The conference called upon the New Zealand Government to deny visas to the members of the South African rugby team if the New Zealand Rugby Union “insists on going ahead” with the Springbok tour. It has also called upon African and other Commonwealth countries to transfer the Commonwealth Finance Ministers’ conference, to take place in Auckland in September, to a venue outside New Zealand if the tour takes place. It also singled, out New Zealand in particular as one of the countries whose sports organisations “actively promote sports links, with apartheid.” The other countries it mentioned were Britain, the United States, Ireland, and France. ■

Mr Taiboys said he did not

think the resolutions passed, by the conference calling on the Government to deny: visas to members of the Springbok rugby team would have much impact. The main spokesman on' the New Zealand 'situation was the former chairman of HART, Mr Trevor Richards — “so one can imagine how faithfully he would represent the over-all .New Zealand view." His information was that Mr Richards had been largely responsible for getting the. resolutions through the conference and that only “one or two” representatives from other countries had mentioned New Zealand. “I therefore don’t take very much notice of the HART-sponsored resolutions," Mr Taiboys said. “But my saying that cannot be f interpreted as anything other than full ack-, nowledgement that many governments and groups see the elimination of sports contacts with South Africa as a very effective means of registering opposition to the apartheid policies there,” Mr Taiboys said. His personal attitude was well known.

A decision by a small minority of Wellington postal workers to ban communications with South Africa for the duration of a Springbok tour will be considered by the Post Office union national executive on June 22.

The decision was taken by a meeting of 152 of the union’s 7000 Wellington members after they were addressed by a black South Africa exiled activist, Mr Andrew Molotsane. The Press Association reported that Mr Donald Woods, an exiled white South African newspaper editor, will leave London today for New Zealand to try to'help stop the Springbok tour, according to a “New Standard” sports writer, Neil Allen, in a column yesterday. Asked about the inclusion of the Coloured player, Errol Tobias, in a South African team to play the touring Irishmen at Cape Town today, Mr Woods was quoted as saying. “It would be difficult to imagine 10 years ago that Tobias should be in a Springbok team. In a South African context only, an important door has been opened but yes. it is a little cosmetic."