Cobus Coetzee and Brendan Roane
THE Dalai Lama has again cancelled a trip to South Africa because he had not been assured of a visa, and the government says it now considers the matter closed.
But it may not be the last word because his fellow Nobel laureates invited to the 14th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Cape Town next month may boycott the event, according to one of them, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu.
Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille, the summit host, said she had not received official confirmation any laureates intended to boycott the summit. She said foundations representing the Nelson Mandela, FW de Klerk, Desmond and Leah Tutu, and Chief Albert Luthuli foundations intended to write to President Jacob Zuma requesting him to ensure that the Dalai Lama’s application was granted.
The summit is to be held from October 13 to 15 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
The Dalai Lama’s Tibetan representative in South Africa Nangsa Choedon said the Department of International Relations and Co-operation’s deputy director-general for Asia and the Middle East Anil Sooklal had called them twice this week to say the spiritual leader would not be granted a visa.
Choedon said Sooklal had told her that a visit from the Dalai Lama would disturb relations with China at a sensitive time as several
important conferences and high-level visits were on the go between the two countries.
Sooklal had assured her that the Dalai Lama would be given a visa next year.
“For now the Dalai Lama has decided to cancel his trip to South Africa,” Choedon said.
Department spokesman Clayson Monyela said the government had received written confirmation from the Dalai Lama’s office in India he had cancelled his trip.
“At the time of the receipt of the notification, the SA High Commission in New Delhi was processing the visa application. The department now considers the matter |to be closed.”
International Relations and Co-operation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane is in China meeting her counterpart. It is the third time in five years that the Dalai Lama has cancelled an engagement in South Africa because of visa issues.
Former Cape Town mayor Gordon Oliver said it was “an absolute disgrace and an insult to an internationally revered leader”. He said: “The ANC government is once again kow-towing to the dictatorial Chinese regime.”