South Africa’s ruling ANC has rejected Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s assertion that the party was “worse than the apartheid government”.
The Nobel Peace laureate’s remarks came after the Dalai Lama cancelled a trip to South Africa as the government had failed to grant him a visa on time.
Tibet’s spiritual leader had been due to take part in celebrations on Friday to mark the archbishop’s 80th birthday.
“We are appealing to the archbishop to calm down,” the ANC statement said.
Pretoria has maintained that it did not come under pressure from China to stop the visit.