JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - The leaders of the new multi-racial South Africa have paid generous tribute to former enemy P.W. Botha, crediting him with a role in the downfall of apartheid and offering him a state funeral. The passing of Botha, who died in his sleep on Tuesday night at his home in the Western Cape, served as a sharp reminder of the bitter racial conflict which he presided over as prime minister and then president from 1978 to 1989.
Botha and his whites-only government were regarded as international pariahs over their refusal to enfranchise the black majority and their outlawing of the African National Congress.
But Nelson Mandela, who spent the Botha years as a prison inmate before winning the first multi-racial elections in 1994, put aside any sense of bitterness to express condolences for the man who branded him a terrorist.
"While to many, Mr Botha will remain a symbol of apartheid, we also remember him for the steps he took to pave the way towards the eventual peacefully negotiated settlement in our country," said Mandela.
Botha was a symbol both of the country's "horribly divided past" but of also of how far it had progressed, said Mandela.
Faced with mounting international pressure, which included economic sanctions, it was Botha who made the first tentative steps to open dialogue with the ANC, including an exchange of letters with Mandela.
Mandela said "our correspondence with Mr Botha while we were in prison was an important part of those initial stages", a point echoed by the current president and ANC leader Thabo Mbeki.
"It stands to his credit that when he realised the futility of fighting against what was right and inevitable, he, in his own way, realised that South Africans had no alternative but to reach out to one another," he said.
Mbeki, whose son and brother are both believed to have been killed by apartheid agents, also sent his chief of staff Frank Chikane to express condolences to Botha's widow Barbara and offer to stage a state funeral.
Although the offer was declined in favour of a private service, the South African flag will be flown at half-mast until his burial next Wednesday.
F.W. De Klerk, who succeeded Botha and went on to free Mandela, said his predecessor had been a hard man to like but acknowledged "it was under his leadership that the government first made contact" with the ANC leadership.
Mangosuthu Buthelezi, veteran leader of the Zulu-based Inkatha Freedom Party, also recalled him as "a man of greater courage than many have given him credit for."
However Helen Suzman, a constant thorn in the side of Botha's regime as the only white MP opposed to the apartheid rule, said he should not be remembered fondly.
"He was not enormously intelligent ... but he had enough sense to realise that change would have to come because the black resistance was gearing up considerably and the opposition of the international community was growing very strong," she told AFP.
His widow Barbara said hundreds of people had offered their condolences ahead of a private funeral which was scheduled for next Wednesday.
"It doesn't matter what people say, it is ultimately God who will judge. And he (Botha) believed that," she told AFP.
De Klerk pointed out that it was Botha who abolished segregation in public places and the notorious pass laws which restricted movement for blacks.
But as the ANC's military campaign against apartheid gathered pace, Botha imposed emergency rule in 1985 and doggedly refused to pay heed to mounting international criticism of his regime.
Even in retirement, Botha remained defiant and refused to appear before the truth and reconciliation commission which found he personally ordered the bombing of the anti-apartheid South African Council of Churches' headquarters. During an interview ahead of his 90th birthday earlier this year, Botha said South Africa would have "gone down the drain" if it had achieved liberation in the 1960s and 1970s.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061101/ts_afp/safricapoliticsbotha
Botha and his whites-only government were regarded as international pariahs over their refusal to enfranchise the black majority and their outlawing of the African National Congress.
But Nelson Mandela, who spent the Botha years as a prison inmate before winning the first multi-racial elections in 1994, put aside any sense of bitterness to express condolences for the man who branded him a terrorist.
"While to many, Mr Botha will remain a symbol of apartheid, we also remember him for the steps he took to pave the way towards the eventual peacefully negotiated settlement in our country," said Mandela.
Botha was a symbol both of the country's "horribly divided past" but of also of how far it had progressed, said Mandela.
Faced with mounting international pressure, which included economic sanctions, it was Botha who made the first tentative steps to open dialogue with the ANC, including an exchange of letters with Mandela.
Mandela said "our correspondence with Mr Botha while we were in prison was an important part of those initial stages", a point echoed by the current president and ANC leader Thabo Mbeki.
"It stands to his credit that when he realised the futility of fighting against what was right and inevitable, he, in his own way, realised that South Africans had no alternative but to reach out to one another," he said.
Mbeki, whose son and brother are both believed to have been killed by apartheid agents, also sent his chief of staff Frank Chikane to express condolences to Botha's widow Barbara and offer to stage a state funeral.
Although the offer was declined in favour of a private service, the South African flag will be flown at half-mast until his burial next Wednesday.
F.W. De Klerk, who succeeded Botha and went on to free Mandela, said his predecessor had been a hard man to like but acknowledged "it was under his leadership that the government first made contact" with the ANC leadership.
Mangosuthu Buthelezi, veteran leader of the Zulu-based Inkatha Freedom Party, also recalled him as "a man of greater courage than many have given him credit for."
However Helen Suzman, a constant thorn in the side of Botha's regime as the only white MP opposed to the apartheid rule, said he should not be remembered fondly.
"He was not enormously intelligent ... but he had enough sense to realise that change would have to come because the black resistance was gearing up considerably and the opposition of the international community was growing very strong," she told AFP.
His widow Barbara said hundreds of people had offered their condolences ahead of a private funeral which was scheduled for next Wednesday.
"It doesn't matter what people say, it is ultimately God who will judge. And he (Botha) believed that," she told AFP.
De Klerk pointed out that it was Botha who abolished segregation in public places and the notorious pass laws which restricted movement for blacks.
But as the ANC's military campaign against apartheid gathered pace, Botha imposed emergency rule in 1985 and doggedly refused to pay heed to mounting international criticism of his regime.
Even in retirement, Botha remained defiant and refused to appear before the truth and reconciliation commission which found he personally ordered the bombing of the anti-apartheid South African Council of Churches' headquarters. During an interview ahead of his 90th birthday earlier this year, Botha said South Africa would have "gone down the drain" if it had achieved liberation in the 1960s and 1970s.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061101/ts_afp/safricapoliticsbotha