South Africa had been banned from the Olympic Games following the passing of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1761 which, in 1962, condemned the country's policy of apartheid.

[2] The States-General (national Parliament) of the Netherlands, the host country of the 1980 Summer Paralympics, adopted a motion declaring South Africa's participation in the 1980 Games "undesirable".

[3] South Africa was subsequently absent from the Paralympic Games until 1992, at which point it also made its return to the Olympics, in the context of the dismantling of apartheid.

[4] South Africa made its Winter Paralympics début at the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan.

To date, only one athlete, alpine skier Bruce Warner, has represented South Africa at the Winter Games.