Shockingly, the South African government lead by the majority party the ANC refused entry to Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama and refused to bow down to ever increasing international criticism.
This is a very strange stance, particularly considering the close relationship between Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama and the country's history.
The Dalai Lama was supposed to attended a peace conference arranged in conjunction with the 2010 Soccer World Cup in Johannesburg on Friday . But the event had to be cancelled after the South African high commissioner in New Delhi refused him a visa to SA.
This has caused uproar in civil society structures and embarrassed the conference organizers ‘the Premier Soccer League (PSL)’ which invited him, as well as Nobel laureates Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and former president FW de Klerk. Tutu and De Klerk have expressed their dismay and threatened not to attend the event if the government does not review its decision.
“If His Holiness’s visa is refused, then I won’t take part in the coming 2010 World Cup-related peace conference. I will condemn government’s behaviour as disgraceful, in line with our country’s abysmal record at the United Nations Security Council, a total betrayal of our struggle history,” Tutu told the Sunday Tribune.
Many other football supporters are threatening to boycott the 2010 World Cup as well and many partitions are going around world wide.
I personally think SA the reason for the denied entry is their very close relationship with China.
What a shame it is on SA as it goes against everything that SA stand for! What a disgrace for the ANC.
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