Dalai Lama visa row may hamper SA economy

Johannesburg - The Reputation Institute South Africa said on Wednesday that it believes that not granting the Dalai Lama a visa for South Africa will not only severely tarnish the country's and the ruling party's integrity and reputation, but also will have long-term adverse effects on the economy.

This is based on its understanding of the effects of country reputation on economic success and results from their recently published study of South Africa's reputation.

It has been widely reported that not granting the Dalai Lama a visa to attend Desmond Tutu's birthday celebration and to give a lecture at Wits University indicates a lack of integrity, the institute noted on Wednesday.

The current public discourse suggests that this decision was made by the South African government with a view to not strain the economically important business relationship with the People's Republic of China.

In other words, the current logic in the public discourse is that economic advancement was put ahead of moral, human rights and democratic imperatives, the institute said.

"Our research shows that this is a fundamentally flawed argument," said the institute.

"South Africa's reputation is critical to the success of our economy as it is our reputation that drives economically vital behaviour such as investment in South African companies, tourism and the propensity in global markets to buy South African products," it said.

"Critical to our reputation as a nation is an emotional bond that people around the world have with us. Recent research has shown that the Dalai Lama is one of the most revered leaders on the planet."