South Africa: State right to ban Dalai Lama – Zuma

31 March, 2009 in South Africa

source: IOL
March 31 2009 at 11:13AM

Johannesburg – ANC president Jacob Zuma on Tuesday backed the government’s stance on denying the Dalai Lama a visa to visit South Africa in March.

Government “must have considered a number of issues” in taking its decision, Zuma told a business breakfast hosted by the South African Institute of Race Relations in Johannesburg.

“There are relations between countries that have specific protocol and certain things to be respected in one form or the other,” he said.

The African National Congress’s presidential candidate said government took decisions which were informed “by the nature of their relations with other countries”.

“As I understand it they are not saying that the Dalai Lama cannot come to South Africa. I think they are saying March, the month March, is a serious month between the Dalai Lama and China in a very specific way,” he said.

Zuma added that there were a number of [continue reading]

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