Ido lekota
Sowetan (South Africa)
March 30, 2009

The controversy around government’s decision not
to grant a visa to Tibet spiritual leader Dalai Lama rages on.

Yesterday members of the South African Friends of
Tibet accused Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana
Dlamini-Zuma of trying to impose a “one China
policy” on South Africans while ignoring the dire
human rights situation in Tibet.

"The minister has stated that it is in the
national interest to accept the Chinese-dictated
‘One China Policy’ without explaining the
implications of that policy with regard to the
human rights violations perpetrated on some six
million Tibetans living under Chinese
domination," said the Saft in a statement.

Dlamini-Zuma said on Friday the government was
not bullied by China into refusing the Dalai Lama
a visa, but was acting in terms of its one-China policy.

The Dalai Lama was to attend a 2010 World Cup
peace conference which was postponed indefinitely.