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
Netball in South Africa South Africa. In 1997, white women as participants still outnumbered their black South African counterparts. One of the sports contested is netball. Netball has a large spectator base composed of white women. In the early and mid-1990s, South African netball received funds from Britain/South Africa Sports Initiative. While most of the money was earmarked for general sport, South African netball was specifically address with the goal of improving netball coaching. Beyond that, general sport funding went to a developing certification process for sport administrators, general strategic development of sport, and transferring knowledge between different generations of sport administrators. In 1994,