- '(IOL) -- PW Botha died before apologising for apartheid's
pain and suffering, but put negotiations in motion for its demise, the
African Christian Democratic Party said on Wednesday.
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- "It is unfortunate that he passed on before he could
emulate the example of leaders such as FW de Klerk and Adriaan Vlok who
apologised for the pain and suffering that apartheid policies caused to
millions of South Africans," ACDP president Reverend Kenneth Meshoe
said in a statement.
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- "The ACDP will nevertheless remember him for his
vision to have a constitutional reform that would include millions of black
people who were oppressed in the land of their birth."
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- Botha, 90, died on Tuesday night.
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- Meshoe urged South Africans to contemplate Botha's role
when providing accounts of South Africa's history to future generations.
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- "For this reason, the ACDP plays tribute to a leader
who not only put in motion the negotiations that would lead to the death
of apartheid but who put in place those structures that would allow events
in this country to unfold to where it is today."
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- He conveyed condolences to Botha's family, friends, colleagues
and loved ones. - Sapa
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- http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_i
d=13&art_id=qw1162384921283B212
-
-
- Commentary
- By Jan Lamprecht
- African Crisis.org
-
- As if he would ever have! PW would never have apologised
for Apartheid. Never. I can't conceive of it - ever. After my long discussions
with him, I have not a doubt. PW had too much of a mind of his own. He
was a person who thought for himself and he would not have just "gone
along" with things. He would not have done something like that just
for expediency. They're dreaming.
-
- PW told me about good governance, and some of his comments
about current ANC policies, like for example, black housing are quite insightful
as to his style of thinking. Put in a nutshell, PW regard the ANC Govt
as clowns. That's putting it nicely. His more exact words were that they
are "idiots". He once said to me, "I used to think we have
bad Government but now I think we have NO Government."
-
- Let me tell you how I see PW from my many discussions
with him. PW would have asked them WHAT must he apologise for? What was
wrong/evil that he had to apologise for? Remember, just because everyone
labels "Apartheid" as evil - well - the question would be: Exactly
what was it that was wrong? People forget that the previous Govt worked
quite scientifically before they solved problems. PW told me this. They
weren't a bunch of clowns who read Karl Marx and then went out and applied
UNPROVEN rubbish THEORY. They actually did STUDIES before they did something.
The ANC runs around with unprovable theory which does not work even when
they apply it. The former Govt worked on science and history as the basis
for its moves. So, when they did something they could provide the rationale
and logic for their moves. For example, PW told me that early in his career
he went to Europe and did a study on housing and came back and reported
to Dr Verwoed about it. The former white Govt OFTEN sent people to Europe
to study problems there and to report back here and to devise solutions
based on what they saw.
-
- Just because the "mass consensus" and PROPAGANDA
says Apartheid was evil... one needs them to come and prove their case
POINT BY POINT with real facts and not a lot of wild emotion. In what way,
for example, is it different when the ANC forcefully removes blacks and
relocates them? How different is this to what the Former Govt did? I see
no difference EXCEPT, when whites did it, the ANC and whole world pretended
it was evil but when the ANC does EXACTLY THE SAME THING... suddenly it
is ACCEPTABLE! That, my friends... is FLAGRANT HYPOCRISY. -Jan
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-
- Botha Would Not Want State Funeral Says His
Wife
- Independent Online
- 11-1-6
-
- (IOL) -- The death of former state president PW Botha
was completely unexpected, his widow Barbara said on Wednesday.
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- "He was just so well," she said. "He just
said to me, he's a little bit weary. We went off to the bedroom to have
an early night.
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- "He took my arm and he just sank slowly to the ground,
and drew his last breath... What grace that he was spared any suffering."
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- 'A very misunderstood man'
- Botha died shortly after 8pm on Tuesday night, at the
couple's Wilderness home.
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- Mrs Botha said it felt for her as if a huge chunk had
been "bitten out of South Africa" with her husband's death.
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- His critics would probably realise one day what the country
had had in him. "He was a very misunderstood man," she said.
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- "I'm very blessed to have been part of his life
for more than eight years. It was a privilege that God used me to look
after him and be part of his life."
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- She said Botha's funeral service was provisionally being
planned for November 8, thought this still had to be confirmed with the
minister.
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- The ceremony was being delayed to allow for people who
had to travel from overseas. He would be buried afterwards in a private
ceremony at Hoekwil above Wilderness.
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- She said her husband had not wanted a state funeral.
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- "He wasn't a man who looked for honour and glory,"
she said.
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- Mrs Botha said she had been getting a stream of phone
calls from people offering condolences. - Sapa
-
- http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id
=13&art_id=qw1162372685345B211
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