Mandela Snubs Gary Player Over Burma Links

Nelson Mandela has withdrawn an invitation to Gary Player to host a charity fund raising tournament in his name because of the former Open champion golfer's business ties to Burma.

The Nelson Mandela Children's Fund said that it was "not fully aware of the extent and nature" of Mr Player's involvement in Burma when it made the invitation, "nor of the political impact of this involvement". It said it took note of the "international campaign in support of greater freedom in that country".

The move came after a call by Desmond Tutu, the former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, for a boycott of Mr Player's company because he designed a golf course that is "a playground of the ruling junta in the murderous dictatorship of Burma".

Mr Player and his company have designed hundreds of golf courses around the world, including the 18-hole Pride of Myanmar frequented by Burma's military rulers.

The former archbishop backed a call by his fellow Nobel peace laureate and Burmese opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, for an international boycott of foreign companies doing business in Burma.

Mr Tutu, the patron of the Free Burma Campaign in South Africa, also drew attention to a column in the Guardian by George Monbiot that called for a boycott of Mr Player's company.

Mr Mandela's spokesperson, Zelda la Grange, initially rejected Mr Tutu's plea, saying that the former president "is not going to follow a line simply because it's taken by other Nobel peace prize laureates".

"Nelson Mandela is a humanitarian and will always oppose any human rights violations [but] is it necessary for him to stand up every time they happen and make a statement, at 89?" she said.

Ms La Grange said that if Mr Mandela were to take a public position it could compromise efforts by South Africa's foreign ministry over Burma. South Africa has been widely condemned for failing to back UN security council motions criticising the junta's human rights violations.

But under growing criticism, the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund said Mr Player's participation threatened to undermine the charity tournament.

"Mr Player shares with us a desire to protect Mr Mandela's good name and ensure that nothing be allowed to detract from the potential success of a prestigious event aimed at improving the lives of children in South Africa," it said in a statement.

Mr Player is not known for his sensitivity to the plight of the downtrodden. He described apartheid South Africa as "maligned, misunderstood, pilloried" after he was heckled while playing abroad.

He was closely tied to the ruling National party during the 1970s as a member of a clique that launched a pro-apartheid newspaper with the help of illegal government funding.

He has also been criticized for failing to speak up on behalf of his country's best-known golfer of Indian descent, Sewsunker "Papwa" Sewgolum, who was forced in 1963 to stand in the rain to accept a major trophy because he wasn't allowed inside the racially exclusive Durban Country Club. Mr Player later said he welcomed Mr Sewgolum playing in South African tournaments because he brought "colour" to golf.

Mr Player was not immediately available for comment.