(TibetanReview.net, Oct16’26) – The office and residence housing the Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in South Africa’s capital Pretoria has been severely damaged in a life-threatening arson attack for the second time in three months on Oct 14 night, reported dailymaverick.co.za Oct 15.
Clayson Monyela from the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, the foreign ministry of the South African government, has declined to comment, saying it was a policing matter.
The report cited Dhundup Gyalpo, the Dalai Lama’s representative for Africa, as saying the building in Lyttelton Manor, Centurion, was hit by petrol bombs at about 11.15pm.
Dhundup has spoken of having been woken by the sound of shattering glass in another room. He opened his bedroom door to find the house filled with smoke, which forced him to close it and instead smash his bedroom window to climb out of the house.
“I nearly lost my life from smoke inhalation last night. I somehow managed to break the window and get out,” he has said.
As he got out, Dhundup, who assumed his post just seven months ago, saw another petrol bomb, unexploded, hanging from a window.
He has said much of the house was destroyed by fire, including all the documents in the office and much of the furniture, adding “the house is no longer liveable.”
Dhundup reported the fire to ADT security service and the Tshwane Emergency Services, which sent several fire engines to extinguish the blaze.
The spiritual teacher of the office was sleeping in an adjacent cottage which was not damaged.
Dhundup has said the house was previously attacked in the night of Jul 6, 2026 – the Dalai Lama’s 91st birthday – when three petrol bombs were thrown at the house. One exploded on concrete steps and did no damage. The other two did not explode. He reported the incident to the police but had asked them not to make it public.
However, the Oct 14 night attack was designedly more severe. “This time they entered our office compound and threw them straight into our windows. It was a deliberate attempt to make sure the Molotov cocktail went straight to our room. So, it was a deliberate attempt to cause harm. It wasn’t an attempt to steal or rob something.”
Dhundup believes “there are larger political forces that are at play here. But, of course, investigators in the South African Police are already working on it. So let’s see what the investigation results are.”
Dhundup has said that if the aim was to intimidate him, “it’s not going to work, whatever they are going to do, whatever they do as long as we are here, we are going to continue.”
“I am here as a representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. My main task is [the] promotion of His Holiness’s views about nonviolence, peace and compassion,” he has said, adding he and his office were doing nothing political.
The provincial Gauteng police spokesperson Brigadier Brenda Muridili has told Daily Maverick that the fire had been extinguished and SAPS Lyttelton was investigating the case of arson. “No suspects have been arrested at this stage.”