REACTION TO BOTHA'S DEATH SUBDUED

C O N F I D E N T I A L PRETORIA 004661

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/08/2016
TAGS: PGOV SF
SUBJECT: REACTION TO BOTHA'S DEATH SUBDUED

Classified By: Political Counselor Raymond L. Brown. Reasons 1.4(b) an
d (d).


1. (U) Official South African Government responses to the 31
October death of former South African President P.W. Botha --
whose temper, ruthlessness, and overbearing leadership style
earned him the nickname the "Big Crocodile" -- have been
overwhelmingly magnanimous, illustrating how far South Africa
has come in terms of reconciliation and race relations. In
his weekly ANC column, President Mbeki said the Government
and the ANC had decided to honor all leaders equally,
including architects of apartheid, because of a commitment to
national reconciliation. He also added that South Africa
needs "unqualified respect for the principle and practice of
forgiveness." Mbeki even attended Botha's funeral on 08
November. Former President Nelson Mandela, who was
imprisoned during Botha's entire tenure, said that Botha's
death should remind South Africans of their "horribly divided
past," but also that they should remember Botha for the steps
he took to pave the way toward eventual peacefully negotiated
settlement in the country. Even Reverend Frank Chikane, who
narrowly escaped death in 1989 when his clothes were laced
with pesticides by the apartheid regime, rushed to Botha's
house to pay the Government's condolences soon after his
death.


2. (SBU) Not everyone, however, has been as willing to
forgive and forget. COSATU, for example, rejected Government
statements crediting Botha with taking steps to transform
South Africa into a democracy, instead labeling Botha "a
brutal dictator who would be remembered with disgust and
hatred." (NOTE: Botha created separate parliamentary
chambers for Indians and coloreds (1982),but never included
blacks. He also lifted restrictions on interracial sex and
marriage. END NOTE.) The Pan-African Congress said that
flying the flag at half-mast and the state's offer of a state
funeral -- which Botha's family declined -- was "an insult to
African people." The Young Communist League pointed out that
the "racist" Botha "dehumanized a majority of the black South
Africans" and "destabilized Southern Africa." One
demonstrator at the funeral told SaFM radio that she hoped
Both would be met "on the other side" by murdered ANC leader
Chris Hani "with a pitchfork" and Steve Biko, the Black Power
proponent who died in police custody, "with a shovel."


3. (C) Though Government figures clearly have given Botha
more credit than he deserves for South Africa's democratic
transition, there has been no debate about what Botha
represented. No one has publicly defended his policies or
brutality. Coming closest were remarks from Koos van der
Merwe, the Inkatha Freedom Party chief whip, who questioned
why Botha should have apologized for doing what he so
strongly believed in. Van der Merwe was referring to Botha's
steadfast refusal to appear before the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission, believing he had nothing to repent.


4. (C) While many blacks are outraged by the Government's
generous response, whites have been pleased and surprised,
which has garnered Mbeki political goodwill from the white
community, according to Ivor Jenkins, Deputy Director of the
Institute of Democracy in South Africa. Jenkins also
believes that Mbeki's reaction was a conscious decision to
reach out to the Afrikaaner community and may reflect his
desire to shape his legacy (perhaps adding conciliator to his
attributes) during his last two years in office.


5. (C) COMMENT: Reactions to Botha's death have been more
muted than one would have expected and signify Botha's
irrelevance to today's South Africa. They also show that the
country's wounds, while perhaps not completely healed, are
closing and that South Africans are coming to terms with
their brutal history. Most telling was Botha's funeral,
attended mostly by elderly whites, which was briefly marred
not by large political protests or celebrations, but rather
by the arrest of two men who stole someone's cell phone. END
COMMENT.
BOST