SA Indian pool champion
accuses NZ of racism

Fakir Hassen

A South African Indian pool player accused New Zealand of racism after being forced to leave there just before a Kiwi national championship where he was being touted a possible winner.

Henry Moses Govindsami, who formerly played pool in national colours for South Africa, was refused a work permit by New Zealand authorities after spending a year in that country.

Govindsami went to New Zealand in November last year after a sports club there offered him a job to help promote the game of pool in the country.

Having reportedly achieved considerable success with that, Govindsami won support from Black Ball New Zealand, the national controlling body for eight-ball pool in New Zealand, as well as from the Auckland Pool Association.

"I thought applying for a work permit with those credentials and a testimonial from a prominent church leader would result in permission being merely a formality," Govindsami told the Extra , a supplement for the Indian community to South Africa's national weekly, Sunday Times.

But the New Zealand authorities, claiming Govindsami had already been working in the country illegally for almost a year, denied his application. They cited a number of other reasons as well, including the fact that a position offered to him as a soccer coach was not of national or regional importance.

But Govindsami was adamant that he had been rejected because he was of his Indian origin.

"I was told by locals that white foreigners were given preference over Indians. Immigration did not treat me as if I was a visitor to that country.

"The white immigration officers were rude and spoke to me harshly. But they told me that my application was being refused not because I was an Indian or because South Africa had beaten the All Blacks in the (Rugby) World Cup."

Govindsami said he had volunteered his services to the Waiheke Soccer Club, but the immigration authorities saw it differently.

"Our service considers that you are currently being employed unlawfully. As a result, we must advise that your work permit is declined," said Susie Leota, an immigration officer in Auckland, in a letter to Govindsami.

Govindsami has won 179 pool contests in the past decade in South Africa, and was confident of winning the New Zealand Open, which carries prize-money of $10,000.

"Immigration officials have robbed me of the chance of doing that," he said.

Indo-Asian News Servic

--Indo-Asian News Service