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
Cricket in South Africa (who was the first black cricketer to play for South Africa), Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Aaron Phangiso, Kagiso Rabada and Temba Bavuma. Today, cricket is the second most popular sport in South Africa, and is the only sport in the country to feature in the top 2 sports of all race groups. This has had both successes – Herschelle Gibbs, a Cape Coloured, is one of the sport's most dominating batsmen and the black bowler Makhaya Ntini reached number 2 in the ICC Player Rankings in 2006 – and unintended side effects. Kevin Pietersen, who is white and was born to a