Peter Fabricius, mojalefa mashego, sapa and reuters

The ANC government is “worse than the apartheid government”, and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is praying for the ruling party’s downfall.

The former anti-apartheid activist’s harsh words against the ANC was prompted by the government’s failure to grant a visa to the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, to attend Tutu’s 80th birthday on Friday.

Following weeks of diplomatic embarrassment and the government’s failure to provide an answer about the status of the visa, the Dalai Lama eventually cancelled his application.

Tutu was undiplomatic last night.

“Our government is worse than the apartheid government, because at least you were expecting it from the apartheid government,” Tutu said at a news conference in Cape Town.

“We were expecting we would have a government that was sensitive to the sentiments of our constitution,” Tutu said.

“The trouble is that the ANC on the whole reckons that the freedom that we enjoy is due to them. They reckon everyone else is just a sideline.

“We will pray as we prayed for the downfall of the apartheid government; we will pray for the downfall of a government that misrepresents us,” a visibly angry Tutu warned.

“The nationalists had a huge majority. They ate dust,” Tutu added while wagging his finger.

He said the ANC had a large majority, but so did former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, both of whom were overthrown in popular uprisings.

“Mubarak had a large majority. Gaddafi had a large majority. Watch out. I am warning you. Watch out,” he said.

Tutu said South Africa had been helped by the international community to overcome apartheid.

He added that President Jacob Zuma and his government did not represent him.

“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 that one day we will start praying for the defeat of the ANC government. You are disgraceful.”

He said he had once listened to one of Zuma’s state of the nation speeches as the president paid tribute to everyone, apart from religious leaders, in bringing about democracy.

ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu last night said Tutu was “just angry”.

“We think he should calm down. He knows deep down that he can’t compare the ANC with the apartheid government. He knows very well what they did to the people of South Africa and what the ANC has done to retain the dignity of South Africans.

“You can’t equate the ANC with the Egyptian, the Libyan or any other state… He knows as well as all of us that it was through prayer that we got freedom.

“Many ordinary South Africans lost their lives and we respect those who prayed for liberation,” added Mthembu.

The Dalai Lama’s office said in a statement yesterday: “We are, therefore, now convinced that, for whatever reason or reasons, the South African government finds it inconvenient to issue a visa to His Holiness the Dalai Lama.”

Meanwhile, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe said yesterday that the government would have given the Dalai Lama a visa to visit South Africa if he had not cancelled his application.

Motlanthe denied that China had put pressure on him during his visit to Beijing last week.

Asked if the South African government would have given the Dalai Lama a visa if he had not cancelled his visit, Motlanthe said: “Of course, he has been here before. I don’t see why it should be an issue at all.”

Other government officials have also suggested that before he cancelled his visit, the government was about to tell the Dalai Lama’s officials yesterday that he had been granted a visa.

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, but unfortunately he has now cancelled, so the whole process has been nullified.”

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

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

Monyela suggested this had not given the government enough time to process the visa application.