Former president FW de Klerk on Monday withdrew from the 2010 World Cup peace conference in Johannesburg this week because of government's refusal to grant the Dalai Lama a visa.

"Mr De Klerk will reluctantly not participate in the peace conference on March 27 and its associated activities if a visa is not granted to enable the Dalai Lama to attend the conference as well," the FW de Klerk foundation said in a statement.

De Klerk was honour-bound to respect the invitation that he, former president Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu sent to the Tibetan spiritual leader last November, at the request of the organisers of the peace conference, the foundation said.

The decision to refuse the visa also made a mockery of the whole purpose of the conference which was, among other things, to celebrate South Africa's peaceful transition to constitutional democracy, the statement said.

The decision to exclude the Dalai Lama was irreconcilable with key principles on which South African society was based including the principles of accountability, openness and responsiveness and the rights to freedom of expression and free political activity, the foundation said.

Events such as the 2010 Soccer World Cup - and presumably all activities associated with it - required a spirit of universality, it said.

The host country should admit anyone with a legitimate and peaceful interest and should not take political decisions on who should, and who should not, attend and participate in such activities, the foundation said.

"Mr De Klerk has taken this decision with the greatest reluctance because he fully supports the 2010 World Cup and the concept and goals of the peace conference.

"He hopes that there is still time for the government to reverse its decision.

"Mr De Klerk has been in touch with Archbishop Tutu and identifies himself with the views that he has expressed with regard to the refusal of the South African government to grant a visa to the Dalai Lama," the foundation said.

Tutu, who was in California, reportedly said he had written to President Kgalema Motlanthe asking for an explanation.

"If His Holiness's visa is refused..."

"If His Holiness's visa is refused, then I won't take part in the coming 2010 World Cup-related peace conference," Tutu said.

"I will condemn government's behaviour as disgraceful, in line with our country's abysmal record at the United Nations Security Council, a total betrayal of our struggle history.

"We are shamelessly succumbing to Chinese pressure. I feel deeply distressed and ashamed," he was quoted as saying.

Motlanthe's spokesperson Thabo Masebe told Sapa on Monday the president had received Tutu's letter requesting an explanation on the government's refusal to grant the Dalai Lama a visa.

"Yes, the president received the letter. The position we took is that inviting the Dalai Lama at this stage would not be in the interests of South Africa."

South Africa did not issue a visa to the Dalai Lama because it did not want to remove the world's attention from the 2010 Soccer World Cup preparations.

"The South African government does not have a problem with the Dalai Lama," Masebe said.

"But at this time the whole world will be focused on the country as hosts of the 2010 World Cup. We want the focus to remain on South Africa.

"A visit now by the Dalai Lama would move the focus from South Africa onto issues in Tibet."

Masebe said China, a major trading partner of South Africa, had played no role in the government's decision.

"The decision was made by the government and not by the People's Republic of China," he said.

A ministerial counsellor at the Chinese embassy in Pretoria was reported to have said that his government had appealed to the South African government not to allow the Dalai Lama into the country, warning that if it did so, it would harm bilateral relations.

South Africa is one of China's key trade partners in Africa, accounting for around 20.8 percent of China's trade with the continent.

A spokesman for the Dalai Lama said he was "very disappointed" by the decision.

"It is true that South Africa, under intense pressure from the Chinese authorities, have denied a visa to the Dalai Lama," spokesman Thubten Samphel told the French news agency AFP.

Opposition parties also expressed shock and disappointment at the decision.

The Dalai Lama was due to speak at the conference, where the line-up included the Nobel Peace Prize committee from Norway and actors Charlize Theron and Morgan Freeman.

The event would be used to discuss ways of using football to fight racism and xenophobia ahead of the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

The Dalai Lama has visited South Africa twice before. In 1999 he took part in the World Parliament of Religions and met then president Thabo Mbeki.

However, a row broke out after Mbeki agreed to see the Dalai Lama again separately. The Chinese government protested and Mbeki cancelled the meeting.

In 2004 the Dalai Lama again visited South Africa as a guest of the African Cultural Heritage Trust.