Ireland–South Africa relations as premature. The Irish embassy opened in Pretoria in 1994. From the early 1960s Ireland vehemently opposed apartheid in South Africa. South African Nelson Mandela, then a dissident, later president, was awarded the Freedom of the City of Dublin in 1988 while a political prisoner; he collected the award upon his release in 1990. Diplomatic ties between the two countries were established in 1994. In November 2003, Brian Cowen, while touring Africa as Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, promised South African President Thabo Mbeki that Ireland would highlight African problems when it ascended to the Council Presidency of the European
Hinduism in South Africa in South Africa came from different regions of India and spoke different languages, the temples and social life among Hindus remained diverse and fragmented. As apartheid-type discriminatory laws against colored and black people began to catch the imagination of some European settlers in South Africa, a few regional governments banned Hindus from purchasing land or building new temples in 1902. Additional and more severe restrictions were placed against Hindus in South Africa during the Apartheid era, through 1994. Tamil Hindus had a well frequented First River (Umbilo Shri Ambalavanaar) temple on Umbilo river in Durban by 1875. This temple was