Loved and hated, Pik Botha dies

For all the things they have done, good or bad, politicians eventually have to account after death.

These were the last words of Pik Botha to Namibian Sun during an interview in July this year when he shared his memories of the late Theo-Ben Gurirab.

Three months later he himself died at the age of 86.

While he was known as one of the few liberal and sensible senior National Party politicians, Botha also has a rather stained history which affected southern African black people badly.

Botha was nonetheless hailed for his negotiating skills which eventually cemented the way for Namibia's independence in 1990.

As many praised him for his wisdom to realise that apartheid was no longer sustainable and negotiations with ANC and Swapo had to be considered, others thought he was “no angel”.

Workers Revolutionary Party political secretary Hewat Beukes said Botha would be remembered as an enemy of poor black Namibians.

“He was instrumental in maintaining the apartheid and colonial status quo. He ensured that the white commercial farmers, the capitalists and the mining companies maintain their properties while black people continue to languish in poverty,” said Beukes.

Botha spent a great deal of his political career as a staunch defender of the apartheid system, and his death will be greeted by older Namibians with mixed feelings. The Popular Democratic Movement's (PDM) Nico Smit said he remembers Botha as a real diplomat who understood and sympathised with the idea that Namibia's people longed to run their own affairs, free from colonial interference and manipulation by South Africa.

“Botha clearly understood the bigger picture in southern Africa during the 1980s, namely that the continued denial of independence to Namibia was destabilising South Africa and could not be indefinitely sustained.

“On the other hand, the mainly white Afrikaans-speaking Namibians who saw Namibia's future as closely linked to that of South Africa will remember Botha as a traitor to their cause, someone who wanted to send them off into an unknown and possibly dangerous future,” Smit said.

He added that few people in Namibia would dispute the fact that Botha was one of the main supporters of and fighters for the independence of Namibia in a South African cabinet that was largely conservative under the leadership of President PW Botha.

“The fact that he managed to hold onto his job for so many years, he was South Africa's longest serving foreign affairs minister, under such circumstances is evidence of his strong character and persuasive personality,” Smit said.

Judging from social media commentary and media reports it is clear that Botha made as many enemies as he made friends.

Known as one of the most recognisable faces of the brutal and ugly regime of apartheid, Botha managed to vindicate himself and eventually served as mineral and energy affairs minister under President Nelson Mandela.

Namibian diplomat Tuliameni Kalomoh said he became convinced that Botha was not a hardliner.

“But the political environment at the time did not allow him to express himself about his views on self-determination for black people,” he said.

Kalomoh also believed that it was in fact Botha's wisdom that prevailed and ensured that negotiations eventually started for freedom for both Namibia and South Africa.

In 1986 Botha earned the ire of the National Party and President PW Botha when he predicted that South Africa might one day have a black president.

Pik Botha later went on to join the African National Congress (ANC) in 2000. In a BBC interview in 2013, he praised Mandela for “his capacity to forgive”.

Botha's son, Roelof Botha, said he was extremely proud to have been his father's son.

“He was so proud of the contribution he had made to the independence of Namibia and the freedom in Angola,” said Botha Junior.

Namibia's vice-president, Nangolo Mbumba, expressed the government's sympathy with the family.



JEMIMA BEUKES