Archbishop Desmond Tutu, visibly shaking with anger, on Tuesday compared the South African government unfavorably with the apartheid regime and threatened to pray for the downfall of the African National Congress (ANC), after the Dalai Lama said he was forced to pull out of Tutu’s 80th birthday celebrations because he had not been granted an entry visa.
“Our government is worse than the apartheid government because at least you would expect it with the apartheid government,” Tutu told a press conference in Cape Town. “Our government we expect to be sensitive to the sentiments of our constitution.”
In a tirade that stunned South African journalists, he went on: “Let the ANC know they have a large majority. Well, Mubarak had a large majority, Qaddafi had a large majority. I am warning you: Watch out. Watch out.”
Photo: Reuters
“Our government — representing me — says it will not support Tibetans being viciously oppressed by China. You, [South African] President Zuma and your government, do not represent me. I am warning you, as I warned the [pro-apartheid] nationalists, one day we will pray for the defeat of the ANC government,” he said.
Tutu had invited his fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate to deliver a lecture to mark his milestone birthday in Cape Town tomorrow. Officials from the archbishop emeritus’ office started the visa application process in June, but met with a series of bureaucratic delays.
On Tuesday, the Dalai Lama’s office finally gave up on the application for the 76-year-old.
“His holiness was to depart for South Africa on 6 October [today], but visas have not been granted yet,” a spokesperson for the office said. “We are, therefore, now convinced that, for whatever reason or reasons, the South African government finds it inconvenient to issue a visa to the Dalai Lama.”
Tutu said he was still struggling to make sense of what had happened. Asked if he felt the Tibetan spiritual leader had in effect been banned from the country, Tutu replied: “To all intents and purposes, yes.”
“Many, many people are appalled in many parts of the world, especially people who supported us during the struggle. They are weeping and saying: ‘South Africa? It can’t be,’” he added.
A candlelit vigil outside the South African parliament in Cape Town on Monday drew about 250 people demanding that the Tibetan spiritual leader be allowed into the country.
Ela Gandhi, who planned to present the Dalai Lama with a peace prize in the name of her grandfather, Indian independence activist Mahatma Gandhi, said: “I’m very disappointed. We were looking forward to him coming and to presenting the award.”
“Everybody thinks this is because of pressure from China,” she said. “It’s very sad another country is allowed to dictate terms to our government. It’s going back to apartheid times. I am ashamed of my own country.”
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 canceled 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.”
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