JOHANNESBURG – Exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama urged South Africa on Thursday to do more to build a “new society” 10 years after the end of apartheid and said democracy was not enough for reconciliation.
On his third visit to Johannesburg, the man revered by followers as a god-king said that despite the collapse of apartheid, free elections and a revamped constitution, South Africans must do more.
“Emotionally I think that still on various levels we should work for reconciliation, I still think we need more effort to build a new society not only at the constitutional level but emotionally,” he told a news conference.
The Dalai Lama, 69, declined to comment on the re-election of President Bush, saying only that he was friends with both Bush and his opponent John Kerry — and the vote would have little impact on his homeland of Tibet.
“To me, to my friends, it is entirely up to the American people,” he said. “I don’t think there is much difference between the two candidates on the Tibet issue.”
The Dalai Lama lives as the head of a government-in-exile in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamsala and travels the world promoting peace and religious harmony. He campaigns for greater autonomy for Tibet but is not seeking independence.
Beijing imposed communist rule on the Himalayan state in 1950 and the Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising.
The Nobel Peace Laureate said he was “very pleased” with recent talks between his aides and the Chinese government, since China had given “a detailed explanation of their suspicion, their doubt” and that “all things had been made very clear.”
He said that after 45 years in exile he longed to visit China but did not know if or when this would be possible.
The Dalai Lama was invited to South Africa by the African Cultural Heritage Trust to discover and promote Ubuntu — Zulu for ‘humanness’ and the spiritual foundation for many African societies.
Sitting beside the trust’s Chairman Qhuzuluni John Sithole who was decked out in traditional Zulu costume, the orange-robed Buddhist monk expressed compassion for Africa’s problems.
“Africa is a huge continent, great potential, lots of things to learn … but there are civil wars, sad events,” he said.
“When someone is passing through difficulty not due to natural disaster but man-made disaster, naturally you have compassion, sympathy and solidarity. Whether I can help or not — I don’t know.”
