Word: botha
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Outside the diplomatic entrance to the State Department Building in Washington last week, a small knot of demonstrators gathered to chant slogans and wave placards. But if the protesters' target, South African Foreign Minister Roelof ("Pik") Botha, was bothered by the demonstration, he gave no sign of it. After a private discussion with Secretary of State George Shultz, followed by a working lunch, Botha claimed confidently that the U.S. had a "real chance" of resolving one of southern Africa's thorniest problems: getting independence for Namibia, a vast, arid territory controlled by South Africa. Echoed a senior State...
...last week's rebuff to the National Party cast doubt on Botha's ability to win support for his plan from many white Afrikaners. With more than 600 industries, including the world's largest gold refinery, Germiston (pop. 216,123) generally reflects the sentiments of the conservative industrial workers and farmers who have formed the backbone of the National Party. Said the pro-government Johannesburg Citizen: "The battle for Afrikanerdom is on with a vengeance, and the politics of South Africa will not be the same again...
Although blacks have little faith in Botha's avowed aim of softening the face of apartheid, the biggest threat to his plan comes from the Conservative Party, which was formed last March when 16 members of Parliament defected from the National Party. Led by Dr. Andries Treurnicht, 61, an ordained minister, the Conservatives have attacked Botha's plan as being too radical and accused him of leading South Africa toward "total integration." As Treurnicht said to his supporters at a Pietersburg rally, "The Prime Minister's stance has aroused the tiger in many Afrikaners, and the heartbeat...
Treurnicht, whose resistance to any weakening of the whites' monopoly on power has won him the nickname "Dr. No," called his party's strong showing in its first test "fantastic." It means, he said, that Botha "has no mandate to go ahead with his reform policy." Indeed, the Conservatives would have won handily if the right-wing vote had not been split between their candidates, Willem Guy, 43, who drew 39.3% of the vote, and Jack Myburgh, 37, of the Herstigte Nasionale Party, who won 18%. So far, the Conservatives have remained aloof of the H.N.P., which stands...
Following the election, Botha's proposals won the unanimous approval of his party's Natal congress. At a rally for 1,200 supporters in Durban, the Prime Minister challenged Treurnicht to resign his seat so that a by-election could be held in his Waterberg constituency. "Then you will see a hell of a collision," Botha warned. Most important, he pledged that he would not deviate from his reformist views. Said he: "I have chosen my path. It is the path of my conviction, built on justice and fairness. It makes provision for the maintenance of civilized Christian...