[They do not state exactly when Mandela met PW Botha. If you read below you might be mistaken, thinking that Mandela met PW after he was released. But PW told me that Mandela requested to meet him when Mandela was still in prison. Mandela asked to see PW Botha and PW Botha allowed it.

I see that they moan about the S.African forces killing 2,000 ANC/PAC terrorists under Botha’s rule and detaining 25,000. And this is supposed to indicate how mean and nasty PW’s Govt was. Heck… they only killed 2,000? Geesh! What damned nice people they were because as I recall from living in Pretoria and Johannesburg during those years, plenty of people were killed in bombings. Heck, two limpet mines exploded within 300 metres of where I lived, and once in Pretoria a car bomb went off within a block of where I lived. On another occassion, living in Johannesburg a huge carbomb went off several blocks away.

There was plenty of violence in this country caused by the ANC. That the Govt of the time only killed 2,000 and not 20,000 is a testimony to how humane they were. Jan]

Apartheid-era SA president dies

Former South African President PW Botha has died at his home in the Cape at the age of 90 after 17 years in retirement.

He led white minority rule in 1978-89 – during the height of the anti-apartheid struggle. He subsequently said he had no regrets about the way he governed.

The ruling African National Congress, which was outlawed under Botha, was among the first to offer condolences.

Botha was succeeded by South Africa’s last white President FW de Klerk who led the nation to multi-racial polls.

Botha – known by Afrikaners as the Great Crocodile – died peacefully, said a member of his security staff, Frikkie Lucas.

He had recently been admitted to hospital for a routine check-up and was then discharged.

The former president was regarded as a relic and someone stuck in a bit of a time warp, says the BBC’s Peter Biles in Johannesburg.

The African National Congress issued a brief statement on Botha’s death.

“The African National Congress wishes his family strength and comfort at this difficult time,” it said.

‘No regrets’

During his rule, Botha defied international criticism and refused to release Nelson Mandela, the country’s most famous political prisoner.

In 1989, Mandela held talks with Botha.

Not only will we survive (sanctions), we will emerge stronger on the other side

PW Botha after international sanctions imposed on SA

Mandela – who was freed in 1990 – later recalled going into the meeting with Botha thinking that he would see “the very model of the old-fashioned, stiff-necked, stubborn Afrikaner who did not so much discuss matters with black leaders as dictate to them”.

But he said he found Botha holding out his hand and smiling broadly “and in fact, from that very first moment, he completely disarmed me”. However, Botha refused to free Mandela and other prisoners.

In the 1990s, Botha was summoned to appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a panel set up by then President Mandela’s government to probe abuses.

The panel concluded in 1998 that Botha was guilty of gross human rights violations.

Thousands were detained without trial during his presidency, while others were tortured and killed. However, he refused to apologise for apartheid.

State funeral

Although some cosmetic reforms were introduced in 1983, allowing the Asian and mixed-race communities into parliament, Botha made no headway in terms of advancing political freedom.

He imposed a state emergency in 1986 after South Africa’s black majority did not accept his reforms.

Botha failed to satisfy those on either side of the country’s racial divide – or international opinion – and eventually resigned after a power struggle within his cabinet.

He led a quiet life with his second wife Barbara in a seaside village of Wilderness, about 350km (220 miles) east of Cape Town, for almost two decades.

In a interview to mark his 90th birthday he suggested that he had no regrets about the way he ran the country.

Mr Botha will be given a state funeral – the first for more than 20 years.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/6104332.stm

Published: 2006/11/01 01:30:50 GMT

(194)Â BBC MMVI

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Replied:
Jan,
I posted this to RMN with a few comments of mine at the top. I will send you the link.
J