PW Botha 

South African President 1978-1989. Outspoken opponent of majority rule and idiot commies. Left the presidency because of a stroke. Succeeded by Chris Heunis in 1989.

PW Botha was a great president- sad that we won't have a leader like him again.

PW Botha by Bert Large March 31, 2019

PW Botha

Pieter Willem "PW" Botha (1916–2006), apartheid's last hardline bulldog prime minister (1978–1984) then state president (1984–1989), nicknamed **Die Groot Krokodil** ("The Big Crocodile" 🐊) for his ruthless, unblinking stare, thick skin, and habit of snapping at enemies — real or imagined. The croc emoji stuck because he embodied cold-blooded power: slow to move, but when he did, jaws clamped hard.

He ruled during the most violent phase of apartheid's decline:

- Declared the 1985 State of Emergency (and extended it), flooding townships with troops, Casspirs, and detentions without trial.

- Pushed the "Total Strategy" — militarise everything to fight the "Total Onslaught" (communism, ANC, internal unrest, sanctions).

- Gave whites the Tricameral Parliament (1983) — fake power-sharing with coloureds and Indians to divide non-whites, but blacks got nothing except more repression.

- Oversaw cross-border raids into Angola, Lesotho, Botswana, Swaziland; bombed neighbouring countries; backed death squads and proxy wars.

- Famous for finger-wagging TV speeches ("adapt or die"), refusing to release Mandela until conditions met, and snarling at critics like a cornered reptile.

"PW Botha was the real Krokodil — sat there on TV wagging his finger like 'adapt or die,' while the comrades were turning townships ungovernable and the world was sanctioning us to hell."

PW Botha by Plot Master March 18, 2026