NARROW ESCAPE: Centurion home of Dalai Lama’s SA representative firebombed

The house and office of the Dalai Lama’s representative in South Africa were firebombed and extensively damaged on Wednesday night, 14 October 2026. 

Dhundup Gyalpo, the Dalai Lama’s representative in South Africa, said the house and office in Lyttelton Manor, Centurion, was hit by petrol bombs at about 11.15pm.

He said he was woken by the sound of shattering glass in another room. He opened his bedroom door and saw the house was filled with smoke so decided to close it. He then smashed the bedroom window and climbed out of the house.

Still shaken on Thursday morning, he told Daily Maverick: “I nearly lost my life from smoke inhalation last night. I somehow managed to break the window and get out.”

He said that when he got out, he saw another petrol bomb, unexploded, hanging from a window.

He said much of the house was destroyed by fire, including all the documents in the office and much furniture. “The house is no longer livable.” 

Gyalpo reported Wednesday’s fire to ADT security and the Tshwane Emergency Services, which sent several fire engines to extinguish the blaze.

The spiritual teacher of the office had been sleeping in an adjacent cottage, which had not been damaged.

Not the first attack

It was the second arson attack on the house. Gyalpo said that on the night of 6 July 2026 – the Dalai Lama’s 91st birthday – three petrol bombs were thrown at the house. One exploded on concrete steps and did no damage. The other two did not explode.

Gyalpo reported that incident to the police but had asked them not to make it public.

“This time I can’t keep it a secret,” he said. 

Gyalpo said he had been slightly injured from stepping on broken glass as he escaped the house on Wednesday night.

While he did not report the previous case to police, Wednesday’s incident has been reported.

“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.

“Which means that people who were doing this, they were definitely trying to convey a political message, right?

“So, that’s why we believe that 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.”

Gyalpo thought “larger political forces” were responsible because “it’s quite clear we have nothing against the people of South Africa, and South African people have nothing whatsoever against us”.

“And only [a] few know about the situation of Tibet, and they were largely sympathetic.”

Gyalpo said 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 haven’t done anything political.

“I haven’t done anything that would put the South African government in a difficult position.

“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.”

SAPS had not responded to Daily Maverick’s request for comment at the time of writing. It will be added once received. The Department of International Relations and Cooperation’s Clayson Monyela declined to comment, saying it was a policing matter. DM