Prime Minister Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe urged...

Prime Minister Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe urged all nations to ban athletic competition with South African teams and players.

Speaking at the opening of an international conference on apartheid in sports at Harare, Zimbabwe, Mugabe said athletes who visit South Africa boost morale among its white minority.

“We all know the jubilation that met the rebel New Zealand rugby team in South Africa,” Mugabe said, referring to a recent tour by New Zealanders in defiance of their government’s ban on athletic links to South Africa. “The presence of such sportsmen gives the South African white community a sense of normalcy in a situation we know is far from normal.”