Pieter Willem Botha was born on a farm in the district Paul Roux of the Orange Free State in South Africa. He is the son of Pieter Willem Botha senior and Hendrina Prinsloo/de Wet. His Father fought as a commando against the British army in the Second Boer War (sahistory.org). His mother was interning in a British concentration camp during this time. Pieter Willem Botha was later nicknamed "PW" by his class mates in his early education at Paul Roux. No one would believe what kind of impact this small boy from Paul Roux would have in South Africa's history. PW Botha would become known as one of the most influential people in South Africa's history.
A huge factor in Botha's future success could probably could come from his great education. Botha first attended a small school near his home in Paul Roux. Then, hoping to better his education he attended a secondary school in Bethlehem (sahistory.org). He then had to face the choice of going to a college. He chose to go to the University of the Orange Free State in Bloemfontein. His choice to attend this college was largely effected by his eagerness to study law. His life forever changed here at this university. This was where Pieter Willem Botha was first introduced into the political world. While studying law, Botha offered to help organize the National Party during their crucial election campaigns (Bernstein).
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When it came to his college life PW had a great one. During his time at the university he became the campus branch chairman, and he also was a reporter for Die Volksblad. He also became involved with the Afrikaanse Nasionale Studentebond, which was later called the National Afrikaans Student Association (sahistory.org). This was when he started to get associated with people high in the ranks of South Africa's government. The Prime Minister at this time was very impressed and urged Botha to pursue a career in politics, and that was exactly what he did. He left school without a degree and he got a job right away with the National Party, the same people that he offered his unpaid work to.
In 1946 Botha reached a huge milestone in his career. The National Party was so happy with his work ethic so they decided to promote him to the National Party's Union Information Officer (sahistory.org). His job required him to create propagandas and basically find trash that could be used on other political foes. After two years of solid work, the National Party elected Botha as a part of the national parliament to the town of George. PW Botha continued on with these duties for almost ten years before getting assigned an even tougher challenge. Luckily with all the people he met from being elected to the national parliament, Botha met Dr. H. F. Verwoerd. In 1958 Verwoerd appointed Botha as Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs. Verwoerd was moving on up to become Prime Minister and needed someone he could trust to take his old post. PW's relationship with Verwoerd would also help shape his future. In 1961 Botha was offered the position of Minister of Community Development and Coloured Affairs (Bernstein).
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Although this was a great title that Botha was named he did not really like what the position demanded. He had the responsibility of removing coloured people from the district called "six". He also was in charge of force removal activities for many districts. Thankfully for Botha he had a short three year term at this position until getting another promotion. In 1964 Botha became the Minister of Public Works (Bernstein). This was a title he was much more comfortable with. PW Botha's confidence was at an all-time high when he was unanimously elected the National Party leader in Cape Province in 1966 (sahistory.org). This newly found confidence would lead to some of his greatest titles a person can receive. Botha was soon elected as Minister of Defence in 1966. Botha knew this was a great position but his mind would be challenged because in 1975 all of South Africa was fighting in a civil war.
The civil war in South Africa was mostly made up of Cubans, South Africans, Russians, East Germans, Americans, and others. What were they fighting for? They were all fighting over the authority of the mineral rich territory (sahistory.org). Botha really showed his leadership during this time by leading the military with semi-aggressive moves that were very strategically planed. With the help of his military advisors, PW Botha soon ended the war with a negotiation with some unknown western powers. They way he handled the war really made an impression on some of the power houses of the South African government. When B.J. Vorster, the Prime Minister at the time announced that he would be stepping down people were already starting to point fingers at notable candidates for the position. Most people were pointing at Pieter Willem Botha.
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It was almost comical how fast Botha signed on to be the Prime Minister in 1978. The first thing that PW wanted to do was to create a very neat administration. So he put forth a consensus that would suggest that they have a political restructuring. Everyone in the South African government agreed, but there was a problem, they were running out of money. So to try to obtain money Botha started to crack down on the power that the bureaucrats could have (sahistory.org). While doing this Botha's focus shifted into another big part of South Africa's history, the apartheid. Botha proposed reforms that could completely destroy the apartheid but the white minority would not let it happen because of a fear that they would lose too much power. However with his new economic reforms in place the situation in South Africa improved and the white majority slowly started to side with the end of the apartheid.
In 1989 PW Botha suffered a stroke that practically made him step down as Prime Minister (sahistory.org). The man that stepped up to the position was Frederik W. de Klerk. This was very important for South Africa because with the help of PW Botha and Klerk they officially ended the apartheid (Bernstein). Botha later moved away to Western Cape and lived out his last remaining years. After the death of his first wife Anna Elizabeth Rossouw, he married Barbara Robertson. Botha ended up having three daughters and two sons. Pieter Willem Botha died on 31 October 2006. His memorial was opened to the public and thousands of people appeared to get a last glimpse of possibly the greatest Prime Minister South Africa has ever seen.
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Within PW Botha's time as Prime Minister South Africa really started to see a turning point in their history. Violence was slowly starting to decrease, education was beginning to rise, and the apartheid was ended. This just shows how big of an influence Botha had on a nation. The future leaders of South Africa should always take lessons of how Botha handled everything that was thrown at him. There is no telling if South Africa will ever have another natural born leader like Botha again, but if they do then they will see another huge growth. PW Botha is the most influential person in South Africa's history.
