31 March 2009

The Department of Home Affairs has hit back in response to a court application filed by Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi, saying the Dalai Lama never applied for a visa to attend a Johannesburg peace conference.

Buthelezi submitted an urgent application at the Western Cape High Court last week.

He asked that the respondents - Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Ngakula, Home Affairs Director-General Mavuso Msimang and President Kgalema Motlanthe - grant the Tibetan spiritual leader an entry visa.

The application was brought forward following a flurry of outrage from political parties and organisations against the Dalai Lama reportedly being refused entry to South Africa for the peace conference.

The event was meant to be held in the build-up to the 2010 World Cup, but has apparently been postponed to 2009.

In his affidavit, Buthelezi claimed that the government's decision over the Dalai Lama's visa was a political one and the government had no grounds on which to bar him.

"On the basis of my experience and expertise as the longest serving minister of home affairs of the democratic South Africa, I can attest that the barring of the entry of a high-profile international political and spiritual leader, such as the Dalai Lama, is an exclusively political decision, as there are no grounds in law to bar him from entry," he said.

Buthelezi claimed the department's actions had not only impacted on his own chances of meeting with the Dalai Lama, but also silenced him and prevented the public from benefiting from his message.

He asserted that if a visa was not issued urgently, the Dalai Lama would not return to South Africa any time soon and the "damage to the image of our country will be irreparable".

However, in answering papers, the Home Affairs Department's Msimang said Buthelezi's application was "replete with uncorroborated hearsay evidence".

Msimang claimed the Dalai Lama had not applied for a visa to attend the conference, and there was no evidence he wanted to enter the country any time soon.

"It is denied that a visa application was submitted to the Department of Home Affairs for the issuing of a visa to His Holiness, the Dalai Lama," the affidavit said.

Themba Mgabe, a Home Affairs official based at the South African High Commission in India, said in his affidavit that he had met a representative of the Dalai Lama, but that the leader had decided to put a hold on applying for a visa pending talks over the postponement of the conference.

The department asked for the matter to be dismissed and that the IFP pay for the legal costs.

Buthelezi's legal team have until today to respond to the department's answering papers. The matter was on the court roll on Tuesday, but was postponed to Wednesday.