DA & De Lille must apologise for lies
The ANC Western Cape questions the intentions of the DA mayor of Cape Town Patricia de Lille for abusing her government office to run a petty party political campaign on the back of the exiled Tibetan Dalai Lama.
The ANC says De Lille spreads lies and publicly badmouths our country, state and president. She must be called to account at the National Council of Provinces as she transgresses the intergovernmental laws and protocols.
The ANC Western Cape leader Marius Fransman says: "The DA and De Lille cooked up a stink for party political gains around the Dalai Lama. This is unacceptable and irresponsible of a person in her position.
"The facts are that South Africa never rejected an application by the Dalai Lama to enter the country. He withdrew his applications every time even before the process could be completed. The said event of Cape Town does not even appear in the publicised schedule of the Dalai Lama. The City of Cape Town disregarded national cabinet instructions to submit an application for approval when such events are staged as it has unplanned budget implications for our country. Cape Town only gave notice of the event after things went wrong. Mayor de Lille overstepped the mark by claiming that the state failed to issue travel permissions, abusing her position and state resources to attack the state.
"This means the city messed up the process by not even seeking prior approval to host an international event and to get government departments aligned to ensure unplanned spending, ease of passage, VIP reception and a successful hosting. South Africa is not a federal state and the Cape is not an island divorced from the rest of the country."
The ANC challenge De Lille as responsible citizen to prove her accusations and say where the Republic of South Africa rejected or denied the Dalai Lama's application for a visa or the DA and De Lille must publicly admit and in writing apologise for lying in a published statement; and as mayor in government for breaking with protocol by attacking another sphere of government in an official communique.
Further to this the ANC also questions the Dalai Lama's playing victim, after he withdrew an application now the third time by not waiting for the outcome of the process as if he is entitled to preferential treatment and then abuse South Africa in his proxy battle against China. The Dalai Lama should stop this.
Statement issued by ANC Western Cape leader Marius Fransman, October 3 2014
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