Word: bothas
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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CAPE TOWN: The "great crocodile" appears to have caught himself in a trap of his own making. In choosing to hang tough and reject a deal allowing secret testimony to South Africa's Truth Commission, former president P.W. Botha found himself defending a contempt of court case that will likely cover the same ground. "In the end, Botha's simply doing it the hard way," says TIME Johannesburg bureau chief Peter Hawthorne. "The commission will present all the evidence against him in order to explain why he was subpoenaed, and Botha will have to respond to that evidence...
...only Botha's victims who want to see him called to account: "The hit men from the old security forces who are serving prison sentences are outraged that they've had to take a fall while their leader has gotten away with it," says Hawthorne. Now the hit men want to see some crocodile tears...
South Africans still tread warily around the aging "crocodile," which is why when P.W. Botha appeared in court today, the authorities didn't know what to do with him. Former president Botha -- known as "the big crocodile" because of his harsh methods -- appeared on contempt charges arising from his refusal to testify before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission investigating apartheid-era crimes. Even though the 82-year-old patriarch remains unapologetic about apartheid, authorities are likely to cut Botha a deal involving some form of private testimony, says TIME Johannesburg bureau chief Peter Hawthorne: "He's too old and infirm...
...leaders finally cracked. The five officers, including a police brigadier who had commanded a hit-squad training camp, claimed they took orders from the State Security Council, a secret junta of military, police and government officials whose sweeping powers enabled it to bypass Parliament. The council was headed by Botha. The officers said Botha also knew about a secret security cell known as the Counter Revolutionary Information Center, which drew up lists of people and places to be attacked, both inside and outside South Africa. Brigadier Jack Cronje testified that police kept files on all known antiapartheid activists. This, said...
Still, the man who appears to bear paramount responsibility may never be brought to court. P.W. Botha, 80, sits in virtual seclusion in retirement on the south coast of the cape. Botha, who suffered a stroke before his 1989 resignation, appears increasingly enfeebled; that, plus his legendary irascibility, may make it awkward if not impossible to force him to face the commission. Embattled and isolated, he refuses to give interviews or even to pick up the telephone; an aide who answered a call last week described the unrepentant hard-liner as "unapproachable." Yet if auguries are to be credited...