Former South African president PW Botha died recently. For those of you who do not know, Botha was the last hardline conservative apartheid leader. He frequently used the army to enforce South Africa's sepratist laws. He was affectionately known as the Great Crocodile by Afrikaners
It is estimated that up to 30,000 people were held without trial during states of emergency imposed by him between 1986 and 1989. It is also suspected that he ordered the death of current South Africa president Thabo Mbeki's son some twenty years ago.
When the Truth and Reconciliation summoned him to testify some years ago, he responded by saying: "I have nothing to apologize for. I will never ask for amnesty. Not now, not tomorrow, not after tomorrow."
Having said all of that, I found it ironic that Mr. Mbeki was sititng on the front row of his funeral next to FW de Klerk the man who ousted him from office. I must admit that some of the ways he is being remembered has left me scratching my head.
Nelson Mandela said, "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."
Mbeki said of him, "Mr Botha took over the reigns of government at a difficult time in the history of our country. It stands to his credit that when he realised the futility of fighting against what was right and inevitable, he, in his own way, realised that South Africans had no alternative but to reach out to one another."
Politics sure does make some strange bedfellows.
There are however many who shed no tears for the man. Former Gauteng premier and Robben Island prisoner Tokyo Sexwale responded in a way that is probably more reflective of many South Africans, "We should not forget the kind of regime he represented, he was ruthless, he was brutal, he was a leader of apartheid during the harshest years of that regime, the sad truth is that he is leaving with many secrets which he should have revealed perhaps during the time of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission."
My personal memories of the man are not many but I know that South Africa became better for everyone when he left office.
Goodbye, Goodbye, Adios.
2 comments:
I still think Botha had a hatred for the English that went all the way back to the Boer War - everything he did (and remember he was an MP in 1948 when the Afrikaaners swept parliament) was anit-British. He was instrumental in getting SA out of the Commonwealth in 1961. I think the bleks were victims in his anti-English rant that lasted 40 years. What a thug!
BTW - you should just co-opt Tori's goodbye saying permenently.
I think his hatred of the English came from his mother who was a British prisoner of war during the Boer war. Sometimes we forget that the Brits invented the concentration camp in South Africa.
I agree, complete thug.
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