20120204
AFP
A South African court on Friday dismissed a case brought by two opposition parties challenging the government's failure to grant the Dalai Lama a visa last year.

The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader had sought a visa to attend fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu's 80th birthday celebrations in Cape Town in October.

But influenced by trade worries with China -- which frowns on the Dalai Lama's overseas travel, Pretoria dragged its feet until the Tibetan spiritual leader cancelled his trip and withdrew his application as it became clear that he would not be able to travel in time for the event.

On Friday, the Western Cape High Court dismissed the complaint brought by the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and Congress of the People, noting that it was the Dalai Lama himself who withdrew his visa application.

The court also ordered the parties to pay costs.

But the IFP slammed the ruling.

"What is the civilized, free and democratic world to feel today looking at the South African system's incapability of correcting such a grave injustice and international outrage?" the IFP said in a statement.

"This is a grave indictment on our entire system of government which has not yet been able to find mechanism to correct what everyone perceives as an injustice."

Pretoria already denied the Dalai Lama a visa once in 2009, admitting at the time it was afraid of jeopardising ties with Beijing.

The issue is likely to come up again. IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi has invited the Dalai Lama to attend a prayer breakfast in March.

China became South Africa's top trade partner in 2009. The Asian giant imported goods worth 78.4 billion rand ($10.1 billion, 7.6 billion euros) from South Africa last year and exported 94.2 billion rand worth there.