Pieter Willem Botha quotes

Pieter Willem Botha was a South African politician who served as Prime Minister and later the first executive State President of South Africa. His leadership marked a critical period during the final years of apartheid, characterized by both reform attempts and harsh repression. He remains a controversial figure for his role in maintaining and slowly dismantling the apartheid system. Here are 52 of his quotes:

I want to warn young people who lend their ears to radicals and who play around with the music from Lusaka - they will end up inside the bear's fur coat, but they will no longer be able to live. (Pieter Willem Botha)
I am not against the provision of the necessary medical assistance to Coloured and natives, because, unless they receive that medical aid, they become a source of danger to the European community. View quote
Pieter Willem Botha
I am one of those who believe that there is no permanent home for even a section of the Bantu in the white area of South Africa and the destiny of South Africa depends on this essential point. If the principle of permanent residence for the black man in the area of the white is accepted then it is the beginning of the end of civilisation as we know it in this country. View quote
Pieter Willem Botha
We do not want chaos in South Africa. View quote
Pieter Willem Botha
The idea of an Afrikaner people as a cultural entity and religious group with a special language will be retained in South Africa as long as civilisation stands. View quote
Pieter Willem Botha
I never have the nagging doubt of wondering whether perhaps I am wrong. View quote
Pieter Willem Botha
South Africa is not a jellyfish and is in many respects a swordfish. View quote
Pieter Willem Botha
Our history is responsible for the differences in the South African way of life. View quote
Pieter Willem Botha
The security and happiness of all minority groups in South Africa depend on the Afrikaner. Whether they are English- or German- or Portuguese- or Italian-speaking, or even Jewish-speaking, makes no difference. View quote
Pieter Willem Botha
The people who are opposing the policy of apartheid have not the courage of their convictions. They do not marry non-Europeans. View quote
Pieter Willem Botha
You could not claim for yourself that which you were not prepared to grant others. (Pieter Willem Botha)
The acceptance of vertical differentiation with the built-in principle of self-determination must apply on as many levels as possible. View quote
Pieter Willem Botha
Nelson Mandela can rot in prison until he dies or I die, whichever takes longer. View quote
Pieter Willem Botha
Most blacks are happy, except those who have had other ideas pushed into their ears. View quote
Pieter Willem Botha
The free world wants to feed South Africa to the Red Crocodile [communism], to appease its hunger. View quote
Pieter Willem Botha
I am sick and tired of the hollow parrot-cry of "Apartheid!” I've said many times that the word "Apartheid” means good neighbourliness. View quote
Pieter Willem Botha
I have been to Switzerland before but not to this [Paul Kruger's] house or to a Swiss bank. View quote
Pieter Willem Botha
Half a century ago in this court I was sworn in as the Member of Parliament for George. And here I am today ... I am not better than General De Wet. I am not better than President Steyn. Like them I stand firm in my principles. I can do no different. So help me God. View quote
Pieter Willem Botha
No Prime Minister before me has been attacked more viciously than I am today. View quote
Pieter Willem Botha
Accept where I am going or I will not lead you. View quote
Pieter Willem Botha
... I am not prepared to build the type of wall you built in Berlin. In South Africa we only build walls for houses. (Pieter Willem Botha)
The United States needs a man at the helm who knows some psychology, who would know that you can't try to dictate to a people from abroad without stiffening their resistance. View quote
Pieter Willem Botha
Adapt or die. View quote
Pieter Willem Botha
The fact is that the Westminster system has not worked anywhere in Africa – not even in England because the Scots and Welsh are moving away from it. View quote
Pieter Willem Botha
Because you could not translate the word apartheid into the more universal language of English, the wrong connotation was given to it. View quote
Pieter Willem Botha