Dalai Lama waiting for South African visa

PRETORIA, South Africa, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- South African officials said China is not pressuring them to deny the Dalai Lama permission to visit South Africa.

The Tibetan spiritual leader, who is invited to South Africa to attend Archbishop Desmond Tutu's 80th birthday party next week, has not been granted a visa, the BBC reported.

Tutu says the government is "kowtowing to Chinese pressure," the report said.

The Office for Tibet in South Africa said the Dalai Lama's paperwork was submitted in June and again in August. South Africa has said it is considering the request.

A South African official denied that Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe's visit to China has anything to do with the visa delay.

"The visit of the deputy president has got nothing to do with the visa application of the Dalai Lama," Clayson Monyel, spokesman for the South African Department for International Relations, told the BBC. "There is absolutely no pressure from anyone whatsoever."