Here we go again. Last month we told you that the Dalai Lama had applied for a South African visa to visit Desmond Tutu on the Arch Bishop’s 80th birthday. This is happening next week, yet our government has not issued the Lama with a visa – something he applied for months ago. You do the math.

The center that invited the Dalai Lama says he first applied for a visa in June, but was told it was “too far ahead of his trip.” Later South African officials said they “couldn’t process the visa with a photocopied passport” of the Buddhist icon, and had to wait for him to submit his original document.

Nomfundo Wazala, CEO of the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre:

We’ve sent letters, following up on a daily basis with phone calls and still are in a situation where there is no response and it’s getting us much more anxious. We have been patient, but we really feel at this point in time we deserve an answer.

Of course there will be all kinds of explanations as to why our home affairs office is so slapgat, but here’s the likely reason: our government is scared of China. Especially following Beijing’s furious response to Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon meeting the Dalai Lama earlier this month. The meeting “grossly interfered with China’s internal affairs, hurt the feelings of the Chinese people and harmed Chinese-Mexican relations,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said at the time.

The irony of the whole situation is that the Dalai Lama is to deliver the inaugural Desmond Tutu International Peace lecture, titled “Peace and compassion as catalyst for change.”

[Source: Associated Press]