Word: bothas
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From the time he assumed the national leadership, becoming Prime Minister in 1978 and State President under a new constitution in 1984, Botha was regarded by South African standards as something of a reformer. He had inherited the apartheid system as defined by the late Hendrik Verwoerd, an elaborate concept that provided not only for racial segregation but for the creation of a group of separate tribal "homelands," in which all of the country's blacks would eventually have theoretical citizenship, even though most would continue to live where they always had, in the black townships of white-ruled South...
Evidently recognizing some of the inadequacies of apartheid, Botha set out to change parts of the system. Perhaps his most notable accomplishment was the creation of separate, if largely powerless, houses of Parliament for the coloreds and for the Indians. Earlier this year, as part of its effort to remove some of the rough edges of apartheid, the government decided that mixed marriages and sexual relations between whites and nonwhites would no longer be forbidden. But these reforms, important as they may be in the context of South Africa, meant little to blacks and did not affect what apartheid...
...Botha's concessions, which the Reagan Administration supports and considers to be a partial vindication of its policy of constructive engagement, were too much for Afrikaner hard-liners but not nearly enough for black political leaders of any persuasion. Unhappily for the government, the reforms coincided with a deepening economic crisis, the worst, in some Johannesburg analysts' view, since 1929. The price of gold, which provides more than 50% of South African export earnings, has held stagnant since 1983, and inflation (now 16%) and unemployment (estimated at 8.4% among the work force) were on the rise. The recession hit blacks...
...Prime Minister Robert Mugabe to turn the country into a one-party state. The creation of South African parliamentary chambers for colored and Indian representation, not to mention the repeal of the racial sex laws, may not amount to much in terms of political power for nonwhites, but the Botha reforms have helped convince the right wing that the President is not sufficiently aware of die svart gevaar (the black peril). Some political observers believe that in the next general election, to be held within five years, the Afrikaner right wing could supplant the relatively liberal Progressive Federal Party...
...multiracial opposition to the government, has revealed some sympathy for the outlawed and exiled African National Congress. One by one, U.D.F. leaders have been put under surveillance or detained, actions that are reminiscent of the treatment the A.N.C. suffered before it was declared illegal in 1960. Earlier this year, Botha offered to release the imprisoned Mandela if he would forswear the use of violence in the quest to gain black rule. Though he had been behind bars for 23 years, Mandela said...