Pieter Willem Botha

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Pieter Willem Botha (January 12, 1916 – October 31, 2006), commonly known as "PW" and Die Groot Krokodil (Afrikaans for "The Big Crocodile"), was the prime minister of South Africa from 1978 to 1984 and the first executive state president from 1984 to 1989. Botha was a long-time leader of South Africa's National Party and a staunch advocate of racial segregation and the apartheid system. Even under great domestic and international pressure in the later years of his career, he only minimally loosened some of the government's most stringent racial policies directed towards South Africa's majority black population and remained unrepentant till his death.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Parliamentary career 3 State President 4 Apartheid regime 5 Botha's downfall 6 Retirement 7 Personal life 8 Death 9 References 10 Further reading

[edit] Early life

Botha was born on the farm Telegraaf in the Paul Roux district of the Orange Free State, the son of Afrikaner parents. His father, also named Pieter, fought as a commando against the British in the Second Boer War (1899–1902). During the war his mother was interned in a British concentration camp. In 1934, P.W. Botha entered the Grey University College (now the University of the Free State) in Bloemfontein to study law, but left early at the age of 20 in order to pursue a career in politics. He began working for the National Party as a political organiser in neighbouring Cape Province.

In the years leading to World War II, Botha sympathised with the German Nazi Party and joined the right-wing Afrikaner nationalists in the Ossewabrandwag, or Oxwagon Sentinel (OB). However in later years, with Allied victory looming in Europe, Botha was critical of the national socialist movement, favouring Christian nationalism instead, and condemned the Ossewabrandwag, charging it with "interference" in national politics ^[1]

[edit] Parliamentary career

Botha was first elected to national parliament from the town of George in the Southern cape, as a member of the National Party in 1948 at the beginning of the party's more than four decade tenure in power. In 1958 Botha was appointed Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs by Hendrik Verwoerd. He was appointed defence minister by Prime Minister B.J. Vorster in 1966. When Vorster resigned in 1978, Botha was elected as his successor by parliament.

Though generally considered a conservative, Botha was also seen as far more pragmatic than his predecessor. He was keen to promote constitutional reform, and hoped to implement a form of federal system in South Africa that would allow for greater "self-rule" for black homelands (or Bantustans), while still retaining the supremacy of a white central government.

On becoming prime minister, Botha initially retained the defence portfolio until October 1980, when he appointed chief of the South African Defence Force, General Magnus Malan, as defence minister. Botha pursued an ambitious military policy designed to increase South Africa's military capability. He sought to improve relations with the West – especially the United States – but with mixed results. He argued that the preservation of the apartheid government, though unpopular, was crucial to stemming the tide of African communism, which had made in-roads into neighbouring Angola and Mozambique after these two former Portuguese colonies obtained independence.

In the 1980s he began a secret nuclear weapons program in collaboration with Israel, which culminated in the production of six nuclear bombs. He also remained steadfast in South Africa's administration of the neighbouring territory South-West Africa, particularly while there was a presence of Cuban troops in Angola to the north. Botha was responsible for introducing the notorious police counter-insurgency unit, Koevoet. South African intervention in support of the rebel UNITA movement in the Angolan Civil War continued until the late 1980s and was dependent upon the withdrawal of Cuban troops. To maintain the nation's military strength, a very strict draft was implemented to enforce compulsory military service for white South African men.

[edit] State President

In 1983 Botha proposed a new constitution, which was then put to a vote of the white population. Though it did not implement a federal system, it created two new houses of parliament, one for Coloureds (House of Representatives) and one for Indians (House of Delegates), along with that for whites-only (House of Assembly). The new Tricameral Parliament theoretically had equal legislative powers but the laws each new house passed were effective solely in its own community. Control of the country was maintained by the white house. The plan included no chamber or system of representation for the black majority.

The new constitution also changed the executive branch, abolishing the post of prime minister. Instead, the role of head of government would be combined with that of head of state to create a strong, executive presidency with expanded powers. The presidency and cabinet had sole jurisdiction over areas deemed to be of "national" responsibility, such as foreign policy and race relations. Though the new constitution was criticised by the black majority for failing to grant them any formal role in government, many international commentators praised it as a "first step" in what was assumed to be a series of reforms. In 1984, Botha was elected as the first state president of South Africa under the newly approved constitution.

Implementing the presidential system was seen as a key step in consolidating Botha's personal power. In previous years he had succeeded in getting a number of strict laws that limited freedom of speech through parliament, and thus suppressed criticism of government decisions.

Botha's authoritarian style of leadership made him unpopular in certain western countries, and many condemned him as a harsh, racist dictator. In many western countries, such as the United States, the United Kingdom (where the Anti-Apartheid Movement was based) and the Commonwealth there was much debate over the imposition of economic sanctions in order to weaken Botha and undermine the white-minority regime. By the late 1980s – as foreign investment in South Africa declined – divestment began to have a serious effect on the nation's economy.

[edit] Apartheid regime

In some ways, Botha's application of the apartheid system was less repressive than that of his predecessors: interracial marriage – which had been banned – was legalised, and the constitutional prohibition on multiracial political parties was lifted. He also relaxed the Group Areas Act, which barred non-whites from living in certain areas. In 1983, constitutional reforms granted limited political rights to Coloureds (South Africans of mixed white and non-white ancestry) and Indians. Late in his term, he became the first South African government leader to authorise contacts with imprisoned ANC leader Nelson Mandela. However, on the central issue of granting political rights to blacks and ending white supremacy, he would not budge. In the face of rising discontent and violence, he imposed greater state repression such as states of emergency and state-sponsored covert action against anti-apartheid activists. He also steadfastly refused to negotiate with the African National Congress.

Typical of his rule was his 1985 "Crossing the Rubicon" speech, a policy address in which Botha was widely expected to announce new reforms. Instead, he refused to give in to pressure for concessions to the black majority including the release of Nelson Mandela. His defiance of international opinion in this intransigent speech led immediately to further isolation of the country, calls for economic sanctions to be applied and a rapid decline in the value of the rand. The following year, Botha declared a nation-wide state of emergency.

Thousands were detained without trial during his presidency, while others were tortured and killed. However, he refused to apologise for apartheid. In an interview to mark his 90th birthday he suggested that he had no regrets about the way he ran the country.^[2] He denied, however, that he had ever considered Black South Africans to be in any way inferior to whites, but conceded that "some" whites did hold that view. He also claimed that the apartheid policies were inherited from the British colonial administration in the Eastern Cape and Natal Province, implying that he considered them something he and his government had followed by default.

[edit] Botha's downfall

Botha's uncompromising policies greatly polarised his own party's views and eventually led to feuding within the National Party. In February 1989, he suffered a mild stroke and, caving in to cabinet pressure, resigned. The conservative-moderate Frederik W. de Klerk became state president later that year. Within months of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, de Klerk had announced the legalisation of anti-apartheid groups – including the African National Congress – and the release of Nelson Mandela. De Klerk's rule saw the dismantling of the apartheid system and negotiations that eventually led to South Africa's first racially inclusive democratic elections on April 27, 1994.

[edit] Retirement

Botha and his wife Elize retired to their home, Die Anker, in the town of Wilderness, close to the city of George and located on the Indian Ocean coast of the Western Cape. He remained largely out of sight of the media and it was widely believed that he remained opposed to many of F W de Klerk's reforms.

Botha refused to testify at the new government's Truth and Reconciliation Commission for exposing apartheid-era crimes, which was chaired by his cultural and political nemesis, Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The commission found that he had ordered the bombing of the South African Council of Churches headquarters in Johannesburg. In August 1998 he was fined and given a suspended jail sentence for his refusal to testify in relation to human rights violations and the violence sanctioned by the State Security Council (SSC) which he, as president until 1989, had directed.^[3]

[edit] Personal life

• In 1943, Botha married Anna Elizabeth Rossouw (Elize), and the couple had two sons and three daughters.
• In 1989 Botha suffered a stroke which left him partially paralysed on the left side of his body.
• His wife Elize died in 1997, and he later married Barbara Robertson on June 22, 1998.
• He was not related to contemporary National Party politician Roelof Frederik "Pik" Botha, who served as his foreign minister.

[edit] Death

• Botha died of a heart attack at his home in Wilderness on 31 October 2006, aged 90.^[4] Botha's death swept the South African headlines and has afforded South Africans with an opportunity to demonstrate the magnanimity of spirit that prevented South Africa from collapsing in the 1990s.
• Former President Nelson Mandela was reported as saying "while to many Mr Botha will remain a symbol of apartheid, we also remember him for the steps he took to pave the way towards the eventual peacefully negotiated settlement in our country."^[5]
• President Thabo Mbeki announced that flags would be flown at half mast until the eve of the funeral, to mark the death of a former head of state. The offer of a state funeral was declined by Botha's family. A private funeral was held on 8 November, in the town of George where Botha was buried. Mbeki attended the funeral.^[6][7]

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• The Mandela Document, dated prior to Mandela's release
• "Fighter and Reformer: Extracts from the Speeches of P. W. Botha", Compiled by J.J.J. Scholtz, Published: Bureau for Information, Pretoria, 1989
• The life and times of PW Botha - IOL
• PW, Tambo 'partners in peace' - News24
• 'He was my bread and botha' (By artists) - Mail&Guardian
• Zuma on PW: 'He saw the need for change' - Mail&Guardian
• Thabo Mbeki on PW - Moneyweb

Preceded by: Balthazar Johannes Vorster	Prime Minister of South Africa 1978–1984	Succeeded by: position abolished
Preceded by: Marais Viljoen	State President of South Africa 1984–1989	Succeeded by: Frederik Willem de Klerk

Presidents of South Africa
1961-1994	Charles Robberts Swart | Jozua François Naudé (acting) | Jacobus Johannes Fouché | Nicolaas Johannes Diederichs | Marais Viljoen (acting) | B.J. Vorster | Marais Viljoen | Pieter Willem Botha | Frederik Willem de Klerk
1994–	Nelson Mandela | Thabo Mbeki