QUOTE(Spiderette @ Jan 3 2008, 05:06 PM)

Ol D
Sorry to hear this.
In my case a Senator helped. My dad was denied his tourist visa in June 2007. I live in Illinois and called Senator Barack Obama's offices (all 6 of them).
Someone from 2 of his offices in the Immigration department returned my call. (I believe they were both summer interns)
They wrote a letter to the Embassy in Cape Town and when my dad returned a few days later a tourist visa was issued for 4 weeks.
(My situation was that my mom was already here on vacation- she has a 10 year tourist visa and they first said because she was here, my dad would have to come when she was at home - my parents wanted to vacation together !!! anyhow, My son was 1 last year - also my parents first grandson, and it would be my dad's first time seeing him.
My dad however has 2 other children in SA (my sister and brother), my sister was still in school, he also owns a house and his own business that he has had for 28 years... so he has a lot of ties to SA)
Anyhow, the bottom line is that in my case a letter from the Senator did help my dad's case and Senator Obama's office was extremely helpful! Although they did tell me that their involvement would not guarantee an approval.
I can't tell you whether she should apply again or not (it's expensive!) but it did help me.
good luck to you - I know the sad feeling I had when my dad called me and told him he was denied

Lucky for you, Barack Obama is a lot more useful than most senators.

Your dad looks like he has a lot more ties than this person's mother does... I mean, to the OP ... you can try to get a congressman involved but with tourist visas, the onus is on you to prove you do not intend to immigrate and all interviews take place with the assumption that IS your intent. If they don't feel your evidence is strong enough, they won't approve it. My sister in law owns a business and has an apartment in Peru, and they'll never approve her. My other sister in law leaves at least one of her kids there, and her husband, (also has a house, but no job) and has never had any issue at the POE or getting approved for a tourist visa.
It's all dependent on the situation.