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South Africa's apartheid-era premier Botha dies
 South Africa's former apartheid-era president PW Botha has died at his home in the Western Cape at the age of 90, the SAPA news agency reports. Mr Botha passed away peacefully in his sleep just after 8:00pm local time, at his home near the town of Wildernes, a member of his security staff told the agency. "Botha died at home, peacefully," Frikkie Lucas said. Mr Botha, nicknamed the "Groot Krokodil" (Afrikaans for the "Great Crocodile") for his tough and uncompromising stance on politics, led the white minority rule of South Africa between 1978 and 1989. He defied the world during the turbulent and violence-wracked period and turned a deaf ear to mounting international condemnation of the horrors of the apartheid system. The National Party leader stood down in favour of FW de Klerk who later steered South Africa towards the country's first multi-racial elections in 1994, which were won by Nelson Mandela's African National Congress (ANC). Posted by: Fred 2006-11-01 |
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