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Desmond Tutu lets rip at the ANC during a press conference after the Dalai Lama announced that he would no longer be coming to South Africa to attend Tutus 80th birthday. Picture: Michael Walker

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An emotional Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu lashed out at the ANC government on Tuesday in the wake of the fiasco over the Dalai Lama’s visa, saying it didn’t represent him.

However, the ANC has called on Tutu to calm down and that the Archbishop was “saying things that he knows deep down are untrue”.

Tutu was speaking at a press conference in Milnerton after the Dalai Lama called off his trip on Tuesday morning when the government had still not granted him a visa. He was due to arrive in South Africa on Thursday.

“Hey, Mr Zuma, you and your government don’t represent me. You represent your own interests,” Tutu said. “Our government is worse than the apartheid government because at least we expected it from the apartheid government.”

He added that this government was expected to be sensitive to the sentiments of the constitution.

This came as Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe said the government would have given the Dalai Lama a visa to visit South Africa if he had not cancelled his visit.

The Dalai Lama had been invited to attend Tutu’s 80th birthday celebrations, deliver the inaugural Desmond Tutu International Peace Lecture, give lectures at Wits and Stellenbosch universities, and accept the Mahatma Gandhi peace prize in Durban.

The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader had previously been denied entry by the Jacob Zuma-headed government in 2009 at the behest of China, which rules over Tibet. Previously he had visited South Africa three times under Nelson Mandela’s and Thabo Mbeki’s presidencies.

Tutu, shouting and pointing his finger, said he was shocked at how the government had treated his friend and fellow Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

“They were quite determined, whether they say so or not, not to do anything to upset the Chinese.

“I have to say that I can’t believe this. I really can’t believe it. It is quite unbelievable the discourteousness to the Dalai Lama. Anywhere in the world you have problems finding a venue to contain the people who want to see him.”

Tutu said that when the Dalai Lama was denied a visa in 2009, Minister of International Relations and Co-operation Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said there had been a “miscommunication”.

“Either she was being very economical with the truth or she didn’t know her work. This is someone who was supposed to come this week.”

Tutu said that during apartheid it was usual to find out only at the last minute whether you were able to travel. “The trouble is that the ANC on the whole reckons that the freedom we enjoy is due to them. Everyone else is just a sideline.”

Tutu said he had once listened to Zuma’s State of the Nation address and been surprised he had not mention religious leaders. “There was a time when the people leading the Struggle were religious leaders.

“I sat in the audience and listened to this president paying tribute to all the people who had helped to bring about democracy. This president didn’t thank a single religious leader.”

Tutu said religious leaders had encouraged up to 30 000 people at a time to march against, and bring an end to, apartheid. “Let the ANC know; they cannot airbrush us out.”

Tutu warned the ANC that Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak and Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi, both toppled from their top jobs, had previously held a large majority.

“Watch out. I am warning you. Watch out. Please watch out.”

Tutu said that after South Africa was helped by the international community to end apartheid, it was believed the country would do anything it could to help the oppressed around the world.

“Tibet is being oppressed. Our government, representing me, says it will not support Tibetans who are being oppressed viciously by the Chinese. Hey, Mr Zuma, you and your government don’t represent me. You represent your own interests.

“I am warning you out of love. I am warning you like I warned the Nationalists. I am warning you that one day we will start praying for the defeat of the ANC government.

“You are disgraceful.

“I am warning you. We will pray as we prayed for the downfall of the apartheid government. You have got a huge majority; that’s nothing.

“Watch out ANC government; watch out,” Tutu concluded.

Later ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu said

it was “very unfortunate that (Tutu) before even hearing government's side decided to attack the government and the ANC”.

“In his anger he decided to be economical with the truth.”

Mthembu said it was incorrect to equate the ANC government to the “repressive and divisive” apartheid regime - which had never cared for the majority of the people of South Africa, Africans in particular.

“They are not the same and to say ANC has gone worse… The bishop knows it well deep down his heart, mind and soul that that's a total untruth.”

Mthembu added: “As a result of the ANC reputation, record on human rights, democratic principles and South Africa's progressive Constitution, South Africa is today recognised by international organisations, such as the United Nations and the African Union as a critical role player in international peace and as a protector of human rights.

“As such, the Archbishop's comparison of the ANC and its government to the apartheid government, to the ousted former Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, and to the former president of Libya, Muammar Gaddafi, is very unfortunate and totally misplaced.”

Mthembu said the party had not downplayed the contribution by any interest group in South Africa, but had instead been consultative in its approach and character.

He said the party had always respected all South Africans including those in the churches, and other sectors such as labour, business, traditional and religious formation, for the role that they played in the struggle for liberation.

“(Tutu) has said all those things because he is angry and he is emotional,” said Mthembu.

He pleaded for Tutu to “please calm down”.

“When angry, one is likely to make serious mistakes with utterances… We are not micro-managing government. The issue of the Dalai Lama was not even discussed in our structures.”

Mthembu called on the Department of International Relations to take South Africans into its confidence on the issue around the Dalai Lama, by revealing what transpired so that everyone could be on the same page.

“The South African government has not responded to his withdrawal of his application,” he said. “We therefore request South Africans to hold their breath and calm down until we get a response from the government. It's logical and makes common sense that we don't jump the gun.”

He called upon South Africans to stay calm, including Tutu, and afford the government an opportunity to take everyone into its confidence around the issue leading to the withdrawal of the Tibetan leader's visa application.

“We are appealing to the Archbishop to calm down and work together with the ANC and its government, first, on the Dalai Lama issue.

“Secondly, we appeal to the Archbishop not to pray for the demise of the ANC-led government, but instead to work together with the ANC and pray for the ANC-led government to deliver a better life for all the people of South Africa,” Mthembu said.

The chairman of the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre, Dumisa Ntsebeza, said the peace lecture would continue despite the Dalai Lama’s absence. “The show must go on. There are options that are being looked at for Saturday’s inaugural lecture, one of which might be a video link-up with the Dalai Lama himself,” Ntsebeza said.

Clayson Monyela, spokesman for the Department of International Relations and Co-operation, said: “The process was under way and the decision was going to be communicated to him later today (Tuesday), but unfortunately he has cancelled so the process has been nullified.”

Monyela would not say what decision would have been communicated to the Dalai Lama.

But he did say the Dalai Lama had acknowledged in his statement on Tuesday cancelling the visit that he had only submitted his passport to the South African High Commission in New Delhi with his visa application on September 20.

Monyela suggested this had not given the government enough time to process the visa application. - Pretoria News, Sapa