Tutu flays South Africa for denying Dalai Lama visa

Tutu flays South Africa for denying Dalai Lama visa
Funke Atohengbe, Pretoria

Arch -Bishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has strongly criticized the South African government for not granting the Tibetan Spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama a visa.

The Dalai Lama was invited to attend the birthday celebration of Arch Bishop Tutu but he had to cancel his planned trip to South Africa following Pretoria’s refusal to grant him entry visa.

Tutu had invited his fellow Nobel peace laureate to deliver a lecture to mark his 80th birthday in Cape Town on Friday.

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Addressing newsmen in Cape Town, a visibly angry Tutu said that the South African government in its action was worse than the defunct apartheid regime, by not taking sides with the oppressed people of Tibet.

“Wake me up and tell this is actually happening here [in SA]. This is quite unbelievable”, Tutu said.

He said the ruling African National Congress, ANC, should note that the victory now being  enjoyed by the people of South Africa was won through the efforts of the international community whose sacrifices cannot be wished away.

Arch Bishop Tutu recalled that the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ms Maite Nkoana-Mashabane had two years ago given the assurance that the Dalai Lama could visit South Africa anytime but that she was being very economical with the truth.

He described Dalai Lama’s cancellation of his trip as a "dark day for South Africa."

Civil rights campaigners reacted furiously to the news, claiming that South Africa had bowed to pressure from China, its biggest trading partner, which regards the Dalai Lama as a dangerous separatist.

A candlelit vigil outside the South African parliament in Cape Town on Monday night drew about 250 protesters demanding the Tibetan spiritual leader be allowed into the country.

There was bitter disappointment on Tuesday morning when it was announced that the eight-day trip had been called off.

Nomfundo Walaza, chief executive of the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre, said:
"I'm shocked and dismayed that they would let it come to this point. I still had hope after the vigil last night that we would wake up this morning to hear the visa had been issued.”

Disappointment

Ela Gandhi, who had planned to present the Dalai Lama with a peace prize in the name of her grandfather, Mahatma Gandhi, said:

"I'm very disappointed. We were looking forward to him coming and to presenting the award. I really feel the whole situation has been handled so badly. It's discourteous for a person of his stature to be told to wait for so long. For a person of peace to be treated like this is wrong."

Hennie van Vuuren, director of the Institute for Security Studies, in Cape Town, said:

"I'm deeply disappointed that the South African government didn't find the wisdom to do the right thing. It makes no sense given that the Dalai Lama recently went to Brazil and Mexico. It shows the issue cannot be about China alone. South African foreign policy is increasingly showing incoherence. It undermines the strong human rights record of this country. It flies in the face of the desire of most South Africans to uphold our constitutional democracy."

Denial

South African foreign ministry officials have consistently denied accusations they have been bowing to pressure from Beijing. Asked for his reaction to the Dalai Lama's decision, a spokesman, Clayson Monyela, said:

"We don't have a reaction. He's cancelled his trip and that's it. We have not said no. We've not refused him a visa; the visa was still being processed. It's only on 20 September that he submitted his full paperwork. In some countries, a visa can take two months. I don't know why people are criticizing the government."

Former attempts

The Dalai Lama visited South Africa in 1996, meeting Nelson Mandela, but was prevented from attending a Nobel laureates' conference in the country two years ago, when the government said his visit would distract from preparations for the football World Cup.

At the time, Tutu called the decision disgraceful, and accused the authorities of bowing to pressure from China.

Other invited dignitaries

While the Dalai Lama is excluded, other leading international activists will join three days of birthday events. The U2 singer Bono is expected to speak at the launch of a biography, Tutu: The Authorised Portrait, in Cape Town on Thursday.

Bono has also reportedly been invited to join former US president Jimmy Carter, former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, and British billionaire businessman Richard Branson at a picnic at a vineyard on Friday.

Additional reports from The Guardian/Ekata