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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Govt: Hogan's Dalai Lama comments 'unfortunate' |
| 2009-03-26 |
| Health Minister Barbara Hogan's comments about the decision to deny the Dalai Lama a visa for South Africa were "rather unfortunate", government spokesperson Themba Maseko said on Wednesday. The decision had been made by government, of which Hogan was a member, and she was wrong to have criticised it on a public platform, he told a media briefing. "The comments of the minister of health were rather unfortunate in the sense that this position on the Dalai Lama is an official position of this government. "It is unfortunate that the minister chose to go to a public platform to attack a decision of government when she, in fact, is a member of that collective. So I think that is something that will have to be addressed in the near future by this government," said Maseko. "How do ministers conduct themselves in instances where they do not agree with the position of government? "Secondly, the way government functions is that it's not for a minister to go to a public platform and openly attack and disagree with a government position. So it's something that's going to have to be dealt with at some stage," Maseko said. On Tuesday, Hogan added her voice to a chorus of criticism of the move by government to deny the Dalai Lama a visa to attend the now postponed South African Peace Conference. |
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