Cape Town, South Africa - A court in South Africa Friday dismissed an application on whether it was constitutional for Pretoria not to grant a visa to the Dalai Lama last year. Judge Elizabeth Baartman of the Western Cape High Court dismissed the application, which was brought by the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the Congress of the People.

The judgment held that the court could not decide whether or not the conduct of government was in fact wrongful.

The Dalai Lama cancelled his planned trip to South Africa to attend Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s 80th birthday celebrations, after the government appeared unwilling to grant him a visa.

The incident sparked a national outcry.

The IFP said Friday's court ruling was a national tragedy.

“On no other occasion as in this one, has there been a complete divorce between what the whole of the country wanted and what the government did. The mechanism of democracy could not fix this gap and impose on government the will of the people which government betrayed.

'The legal routes have thus far proven unsuccessful. 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, ranging from the churches to the trade unions to the common people who, in their overwhelming majority, declared themselves in favor of the Dalai Lama coming to South Africa,” said IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi.

Pana 03/02/2012