P. W. Botha Quotes

39 Sourced Quotes

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.

P. W. Botha
I hate no black man. I hate no brown man. The same God that made me put them there too. My God is not only for Afrikaners.

P. W. Botha
Our history is responsible for the differences in the South African way of life.

P. W. 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.

P. W. Botha
There is only one element that can break the Afrikaner … and that is the Afrikaner himself.

P. W. Botha
We dare not see ourselves as a chosen people. We are called people - called to a particular task, just as every nation is a called people.

P. W. Botha
Lord Milner had, in the forced Peace of Vereeniging ensured that there was to be no franchise for black people after the introduction of self-government - which was never intended. It was only after half a century that an Afrikaner government started doing something about black rights.

P. W. 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.

P. W. Botha
We do not know what tomorrow will bring. We are not prophets. This is a step in the dark. We can only proceed into the future with faith.

P. W. Botha
I never have the nagging doubt of wondering whether perhaps I am wrong.

P. W. Botha
We are a strong country in a rather sick world. … Our problems are not so much racial as radicals wish to make them.

P. W. 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.

P. W. Botha
The acceptance of vertical differentiation with the built-in principle of self-determination must apply on as many levels as possible.

P. W. Botha
The white people who came here lived at a very much higher standard than the indigenous peoples, and with a very rich tradition which they brought with them from Europe.

P. W. 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.

P. W. Botha
No Prime Minister before me has been attacked more viciously than I am today.

P. W. Botha
Because you could not translate the word apartheid into the more universal language of English, the wrong connotation was given to it.

P. W. Botha
There is not an Indian community in the world that is better off than the Indians in South Africa. That is the type of apartheid that I stand for. That is the type of apartheid that is not dead.

P. W. Botha
Most blacks are happy, except those who have had other ideas pushed into their ears.

P. W. 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.

P. W. Botha
Our enemies latched unto the word "apartheid" and in a very sly manner transformed it into the strongest weapon in the onslaught against freedom and civilization in our country.

P. W. Botha
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.

P. W. Botha
I believe we are today crossing the Rubicon, Mr Chairman. In South Africa there can be no turning back. I have a manifesto for the future of our country and we must engage in positive action in the months and years that lie ahead.

P. W. Botha
South Africa is not a jellyfish and is in many respects a swordfish.

P. W. Botha
I have come to the realisation and conviction that the struggle in South Africa is not between White, Black and Brown, but between Christian civilized standards and the powers of chaos.

P. W. Botha