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Pieter Willem Botha, was a South African politician who served as the last Prime Minister of South Africa from 1978 to 1984 and as the first executive State President of South Africa from 1984 until his resignation in 1989. Nicknamed 'Die Groot Krokodil' due to his tough political stance, he was considered the final hardline leader of South Africa during the apartheid era.
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politics · South African politician (1916–2006) · politician · minister · also P. W. Botha, Pieter Willem Botha, Botha
Born 12 January 1916 · Died 31 October 2006 · Q212286
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“I am informed of policy statements that completely ignore the state president. I am also informed of proposed foreign visits by you without complying with the prescribed rules,”
“This uprising will bring out the beast in us”
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Two of Botha's daughters died
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San Mateo Daily Journal: P.W. Botha, former president of South Africa, dies at age 90
Seattle Times: P.W. Botha, former president of South Africa, dies at 90
Died 2006-10-31.
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“Unfortunately [South Africa] has been badly repaid for her loyalty because the West has expelled her from the family circle while befriending the most dictatorial regimes on Earth.”
“Our enemies latched unto the word "apartheid" and in a very sly manner transformed it into the strongest weapon in the onslaught against freedom and civilization in our country.”
“Knowing [Mandela] will start up with violence again, I, as a responsible head of state, must release him so that he can carry on with his violence, and then arrest him? What a nonsensical argument.”
“I am tired of constantly hearing how guilty the Afrikaner and the National Party are and the time has come that this myth be crushed.”
“We dare not see ourselves as a chosen people. We are called people - called to a particular task, just as every nation is a called people.”
“I have come to the realisation and conviction that the struggle in South Africa is not between White, Black and Brown, but between Christian civilized standards and the powers of chaos.”
“The separation of races happened long before the Nationalist Government. God separated the races.”
“The white people who came here lived at a very much higher standard than the indigenous peoples, and with a very rich tradition which they brought with them from Europe.”
“The idea of an Afrikaner people as a cultural entity and religious group with a special language will be retained in South Africa as long as civilisation stands.”
“I am not against the provision of the necessary medical assistance to Coloured and natives, because, unless they receive that medical aid, they become a source of danger to the European community.”
“Because you could not translate the word apartheid into the more universal language of English, the wrong connotation was given to it.”
“Most blacks are happy, except those who have had other ideas pushed into their ears.”
“Where in the whole wide world today can you find a more just society than South Africa has?”
“Many refugees – White, Brown and Black – flee to South Africa. Why? Here they know they have safety.”
“The people who are opposing the policy of apartheid have not the courage of their convictions. They do not marry non-Europeans.”
“I never have the nagging doubt of wondering whether perhaps I am wrong.”
“Mandela has overstepped the mark. He has broken the law. The judiciary of this country has put him where he belongs according to the rules of democracy.”
“I hate no black man. I hate no brown man. The same God that made me put them there too. My God is not only for Afrikaners.”
“There is not an Indian community in the world that is better off than the Indians in South Africa. That is the type of apartheid that I stand for. That is the type of apartheid that is not dead.”
“The fact is that the Westminster system has not worked anywhere in Africa – not even in England because the Scots and Welsh are moving away from it.”
“You could not claim for yourself that which you were not prepared to grant others.”
The initial plan was to poison Mandela with thallium shortly before his release in 1990
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Botha married Barbara Robertson, a legal secretary 25 years his junior, following Elize's death the previous year
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“Personally, my relationship with P. W. Botha was often strained. I did not like his overbearing leadership style and was opposed to the intrusion of the State Security Council system into virtually every facet of government. After I became leader of the National Party in February 1989, I did my best to ensure that P. W. Botha would be able to end his term as president with full dignity and decorum. Unfortunately, this was not to be.”
Resigned as Leader of the National Party and later State President, and was succeeded by F
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A new law created "Open Group Areas" or racially mixed neighbourhoods but these neighbourhoods had to receive a Government permit, had to have the support of the local whites immediately concerned, and had to be an upper
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Botha delivered the Rubicon speech, a policy address in which he refused to give in to demands by the black population, including the release of Mandela
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Botha became South Africa's first executive State President, consolidating executive power and continuing apartheid policies
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Career landmark: State President of South Africa (1984–1989).
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The aforementioned constitutional reforms granted limited political rights to "Coloureds" and "Indians"
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Botha proposed a new constitution, which was then put to a vote of the white population on 2 November
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Which granted limited political representation to Coloured and Indian South Africans, but excluded Black South Africans
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The group broke away to form the Conservative Party
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Career landmark: Prime Minister of South Africa (1978–1984).
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Botha was elected as his successor by the National Party caucus, besting the electorate's favourite, 45-year-old Foreign Minister Pik Botha
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Said that the Nico Malan Theatre should be open to patrons of all races
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And was involved in the South African Border War
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When he was appointed Minister of Defence by Prime Minister John Vorster
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Botha was appointed Minister of Defence, a title in which he held for over 15 years
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Botha was appointed Minister of Community Development and Coloured Affairs, a position that gave him direct control over policies related to urban segregation and forced removals
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Botha became Minister of Community Development and Coloured Affairs, overseeing forced removals, including the controversial clearance of District Six
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Was appointed Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs by Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd
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“I am personally opposed to immoral practices, but the Government does not see these two laws as guarantees for the survival of South Africa,”
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As an MP for the National Party from the constituency of George
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Botha married Anna Elizabeth Rossouw (Elize)
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And was sympathetic to the German Nazi Party, and helped found its Cape Town branch
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Joined the Ossewabrandwag, an organization which was sympathetic to the German Nazi Party, but in 1941 he began to identify as a Christian nationalist and was expelled from the organization
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Entered the Grey University College (now the University of the Free State) in Bloemfontein to study law, but left early at the age of twenty in order to pursue a career in politics
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Born 1916-01-12.
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Botha was raised in a conservative Afrikaner family with strong nationalist beliefs
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Personally, my relationship with P. W. Botha was often strained. I did not like his overbearing leadership style and was opposed to the intrusion of the State Security Council system into virtually every facet of government. After I became leader of the National Party in February 1989, I did my best to ensure that P. W. Botha would be able to end his term as president with full dignity and decorum. Unfortunately, this was not to be.
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