Africans view tour vote as disreputable

Press, 16 May 1985, Page 4

Africans view tour vote as disreputable

The New Zealand Rugby Union’s South African tour decision is seen by black African countries as clearly eroding the committed stand of the New Zealand Government and people, according to the general secretary of the National Council of Churches, Mrs Jocelyn Armstrong. Mrs Armstrong, who has just returned from a visit to Africa, was at an international church meeting in Botswana when news of the decision was heard. A statement was released immediately, in which New Zealand was assured by the delegates that their countries saw sports links with South Africa as support for its Government and apartheid. It said that the tour would bring disrepute upon New Zealand, she said yesterday. The meeting, to review aid relief projects in drought-stricken Africa, was attended by delegates from 16 black African nations. As aNew Zealander among black people when the decision was made, Mrs Armstrong said she felt dismayed and let down.

“I felt let down by a group that’s going to be so public in the eyes of the world,” she said.

She realised that because of the link with South Africa through rhgby, New Zealand was almost duty-bound in the eyes of African people to struggle against apartheid.

Recent demonstrations in South Africa were revealing a new violence among black people themselves.

This is showing that the whole struggle is against apartheid and not just black people against white people,” she said. , Generally, New Zealand' was viewed in a positive light by the nations represented at the conference.

“They would look to us in our commitment to justice for African people,” Mrs Armstrong said.

Admiration for New Zealand was evident when she arrived in Africa, only days after the visit there by the Prime Minister, Mr Lange. “The Prime Minister’s visit made such an impact on countries in southern Africa, that it was really ‘open sesame’ for any New Zealander there,” she said. “I arrived when towns were still bursting with photographs of Mr Lange.” After hearing news of the tour decision, Mrs Armstrong telephoned the South African Council of Churches to assure it of the stand of the National Council of Churches against apartheid.

Mrs Armstrong said the meeting urged sister churches throughout the world to support New Zealand churches in their opposition to the All Black tour, and to continue to work in their own countries for increased moral, cultural, political, and economic pressure on the South African Government to abolish apartheid.