THE SIDELINES : Apartheid Foes Caution IOC

Anti-apartheid activists expressed concern today over the International Olympic Committee’s decision to send a delegation to South Africa, fearing it is a possible prelude to readmitting the country to the Olympics.

IOC officials announced Sunday during a three-day meeting of the ruling Olympic body in Lillehammer, Norway, that a five-member delegation led by Senegalese Judge Keba Mbaye would be dispatched to South Africa in April to investigate progress in dismantling apartheid.

Moss Mashisi, spokesman for the anti-apartheid National Olympic and Sports Congress, said it had been agreed after talks in Harare, Zimbabwe, last month that a special commission will monitor South Africa’s compliance with two demands before readmission to the Olympics--the dismantling of apartheid and desegregation of sport.

“If the IOC does send a delegation to South Africa, we will meet and cooperate with them,” Mashisi said. “But it also is important to add that an impression must not be created that the lifting of the sports moratorium will be determined by the international bodies. It will depend on South Africans themselves.”