Dalai Lama barred from South Africa

The Dalai Lama has been denied a visa into South Africa for the upcoming Peace conference held by Desmond Tutu, Mandela and de Klerk. The bit that puzzles me is that the Foreign Affairs spokes person Ronnie Mamoepa said that the reason they have denied his visa is because he was not invited to the conference. Now what does the one have to do with the other. What if he came to visit friends and family would he still have been denied entry into South Africa? They claim it is in the best interest of our country to deny the Dalai Lama entrance because apparently it would hurt foreign relations with China. Okay so they would rather alienate one of the most respected spiritual leaders in the world. Would China really put up a stink over the Dalai Lama coming to South Africa? Honestly I don't think so because he is in exile and have been since 1959 in India. Fine China has a lot of money but what does that have to do with someone who is going through all the proper channels trying to get a visa to enter our country. How can they deny him a visa purely on that basis alone. Come on he is basically royalty and all over the world people are fighting for Tibet to have the right to exist and for the Dalai Lama to be able to return. This is a move that is going to be very hard on our government to explain, there is no excuse why he was denied even Desmond Tutu has asked why they have barred the Dalai Lama from coming.