P.W. Botha
Pieter Willem Botha, (born January 12, 1916) commonly known as "P.W." and "Die Groot Krokodil" (Afrikaans: "The Big Crocodile") was Prime Minister of South Africa from 1978 to 1984 and State President from 1984 to 1989. Botha was a long-time supporter of South Africa's National Party and a staunch advocate of racial segregation and the apartheid system.
Parliamentary career
Botha was first elected to parliament as a member of the National Party in 1948 and was appointed defense minister by Prime Minister B.J. Vorster in 1966. When Vorster resigned in 1978, Botha was elected as his replacement by the South African 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, while still retaining the supremacy of a white central government.
As a former foreign minister, Botha pursued an ambitious foreign policy designed to increase South Africa's international standing. As prime minister, he sought to improve relations with the west, especially the United States, 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 neighboring Angola and Mozambique.
In the 80's he began to develop a secret nuclear weapons program in collaboration with Israel. He also remained steadfast in South Africa's occupation of the neighboring territory (and now independent nation) of Namibia, which Botha insisted should be called South-West Africa. South African intervention in the Angolan civil war was also continued for many years. To maintain the nation's military strength, a very strict draft for white South African males was implemented in 1981 which essentially forced all adult males to engage in varying degrees of military service every year, until they reached the age of 55.
State President
Stamp issued in
1984 to commemorate Botha's election as 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 house passed were effective solely in its own community. However, the new constitution also changed the executive branch, abolishing the post of prime minister and instead creating 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 criticized 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. After the constitution was approved, in 1984 Botha was elected as the first state president of South Africa.
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 cruel, racist dictator. In the United Kingdom, where the Anti-Apartheid Movement was based, there was much debate over the imposition of economic sanctions in order to weaken Botha and undermine the white-minority regime.
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 legalized, 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. 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 speech 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 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 South African Rand. In that year, Botha also declared a state of emergency.
Botha's downfall
His uncompromising policies greatly polarized his own party's views, and eventually led to feuding within the National Party. In February 1989 Botha reportedly suffered a stroke and, caving in to cabinet in-fighting as well as to external pressure from the US and Britain, Botha was forced to resign. The more moderate Frederik W. de Klerk became president later in 1989. Within months, de Klerk had announced the unbanning of anti-apartheid groups including the African National Congress, the release of Nelson Mandela and the beginning of negotiations. De Klerk's rule saw the dismantling of the apartheid system and the negotiations that eventually lead to South Africa's first racially-all inclusive democratic elections on 27 April 1994.
Retirement
Botha retired to his home in the town of Wilderness, and remained largely out of sight of the media. He remained opposed to many of F W de Klerk's reforms, and refused to testify at the Mandela government's Truth and Reconciliation Commission for exposing apartheid-era crimes. 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.
He was not related to contemporary National Party politician Roelof Frederik "Pik" Botha, who served as his foreign minister.
References
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