Botha, P.W.

Botha, P.W. ( Pieter Willem) (1916– ) South African statesman. The longest-serving member of the apartheid regime, he entered parliament in 1948. As defence minister (1966–78), he increased South Africa's armed forces and was responsible for the military involvement in Angola. He became prime minister (1978) and undertook limited reform of apartheid. The adoption of a new, racial constitution allowed the participation of non-whites in parliamentary government, but excluded the black majority. In 1980 he established the Southwest Africa Territorial Force, as part of a destabilization policy of South Africa's neighbours. He became the state's first president (1980) and was re-elected in 1987. In 1989 he suffered a stroke and, amid increasing National party factionalism, resigned and was replaced by the more reform-minded F. W. de Klerk.