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A photo of P. W. Botha by oop van Bilsen / Anefo –

Top 10 Incredible Facts about P. W. Botha

Pieter Willem Botha, DMS was born on 12 January 1916 and died on 31 October 2006. Botha was commonly known as P. W. while Afrikaans named him Die Groot Krokodil which means “The Big Crocodile”

He was a South African politician. He served as the last prime minister of South Africa from 1978 to 1984 and the first executive state president of South Africa from 1984 to 1989. In the article are the top ten incredible facts about P. W. Botha.

1. Botha was first elected to Parliament in 1948

A photo of B. W. Botha by Wie is wie in Suid-Afrika 1963 –

First elected to Parliament in 1948, Botha was an outspoken opponent of black majority rule and international communism. However, his administration did make concessions towards political reform, whereas internal unrest saw widespread human rights abuses at the hands of the government.

2. Botha did not support F. W. de Klerk in the 1992 apartheid referendum

The 1992 South African apartheid referendum was held in South Africa on 17 March 1992. The referendum was limited to white South African voters. The voters were asked whether or not they supported the negotiated reforms begun by State President F. W. de Klerk two years earlier.

The result of the election was a large victory for the “yes” side, which ultimately resulted in apartheid being lifted. Even though F. W. de Klerk won the election, Botha campaigned for a No vote and denounced De Klerk’s administration as irresponsible for opening the door to black majority rule.

3. Botha joined the Ossewabrandwag durn World War II

The Ossewabrandwag (OB) was an anti-British and pro-German organisation in South Africa during World War II, which opposed South African participation in the war. Pro-German Afrikaners formed the Ossewabrandwag in Bloemfontein on 4 February 1939.

Ossewabrandwag which was a right-wing Afrikaner nationalist group was sympathetic to the German Nazi Party. However, months after the German attack on the USSR, Botha condemned the Ossewabrandwag and changed his ideological allegiance to Christian nationalism.

4. Botha married Anna Elizabeth Rossouw in 1943

Anna Elizabeth Botha was the First Lady of South Africa, as the wife of State President Pieter Willem Botha, from 1984 to 1989. Anna Elizabeth Rossouw married Botha on 13 March 1943. She went by the name Elize and was the daughter of a pastor from Senekal, Dr S.H. Roussouw.

They had two sons, Rossouw and Pieter Willem, and three daughters, Elanza, Amelia and Rozanne. Elize Botha had stayed quietly in the background as the First Lady of South Africa. She earned the admiration of Nelson Mandela for helping to arrange a luncheon that Mandela and the widows of apartheid-era leaders attended.

5. Botha started his parliamentary career at age 30

At age 30, Botha was elected head of the National Party Youth in 1946, and two years later was elected to the House of Assembly as representative of George in the southern Cape Province in the general election which saw the beginning of the National Party’s 46-year tenure in power.

His opponent in the 1948 election was JP Marais from the United Party. In 1958 Botha was appointed Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs by Hendrik Verwoerd, and in 1961 was appointed to the new Department of Coloured Affairs and became Minister of Community Development.

6. Botha was appointed Minister of Defence in 1966

Botha was appointed by Verwoerd to become Minister of Defence. So, Botha served under the government of John Vorster, upon Verwoerd’s murder later that year.

Under his 14 years in charge of the ministry, the South African Defence Force (SADF) reached a zenith, at times consuming 20% of the national budget, compared to 1.3% in 1968, and was involved in the South African Border War.

7. Harry Schwarz and Helen Suzman were Botha’s greatest parliamentary opponents

Harry Heinz Schwarz was a South African lawyer, statesman and long-time political opposition leader against apartheid in South Africa. He served as the South African Ambassador to the United States during the country’s transition to majority rule.

Helen Suzman, OMSG, DBE was a South African anti-apartheid activist and politician. She represented a series of liberal and centre-left opposition parties during her 36-year tenure in the whites-only, National Party-controlled House of Assembly of South Africa at the height of apartheid.

8. Botha proposed a new constitution when he was president

State President Botha inspecting the guard of Honor by Ian Barbour –

In 1983, Botha proposed a new constitution, which was then put to a vote by the white population. Though it did not implement a federal system as established in 1961, it implemented what was ostensibly a power-sharing agreement with Coloureds and Indians.

The new constitution created two new houses of parliament alongside the existing, white-only House of Assembly, the House of Representatives for Coloureds and the House of Delegates for Indians.

9. Botha undertook some superficial changes to apartheid practices

He legalised interracial marriage and miscegenation, both completely banned since the late 1940s. 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 1988, a new law created racially mixed neighbourhoods but these neighbourhoods had to receive a Government permit, had the support of the local whites immediately concerned and had to be upper-class neighbourhoods in a major city to be awarded a permit.

In 1983, the aforementioned constitutional reforms granted limited political rights to “Coloureds” and “Indians”. Botha also became the first South African government leader to authorise contact with Nelson Mandela, the imprisoned leader of the African National Congress (ANC).

10. Barend du Plessis took over Botha’s seat as National Party’s president

On 18 January 1989, Botha (then aged 73) suffered a mild stroke which prevented him from attending a meeting with Namibian political leaders on 20 January 1989. Botha’s place was taken by acting president J. Christiaan Heunis.

On 2 February 1989, Botha resigned as leader of the National Party (NP), anticipating his nominee, finance minister Barend du Plessis would succeed him.