By Phurbu Thinley
Dharamsala, April 20: The Democratic Alliance of South Africa has dared the ruling party to invite the Dalai Lama to the presidential inauguration on May 9, according to a media report.
“The Dalai Lama is a head of an exiled government and a champion of human rights which should suitably qualify him to attend the event,” the Citizen quoted DA deputy Foreign Affairs spokesman Joe Seremane as saying in a statement on Saturday.
“If the government was genuine in its earlier assurance that His Holiness the Dalai Lama is welcome to visit SA in future, it must do the right thing and invite him to the presidential inauguration.
“If it fails to do so it must explain its reasons,” Seremane reportedly said.
Seremane further said that inviting the Dalai Lama to the presidential inauguration will go a long way in improving South Africa’s tarnished international image which was severely aggravated by the government’s refusal to grant him a visa.
The South African government’s refusal to grant visa to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, ostensibly under Chinese pressure, to attend a peace conference in Johannesburg last month drew widespread condemnation, including from the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
The exiled Tibetan leader had planned to join other Nobel peace prize winners including Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk at the conference to discuss ways of using soccer to fight racism and xenophobia, as South Africa prepares to host the 2010 World Cup.
The event was later shelved after other participants decided to boycott the conference in the absence of the Dalai Lama.
