Nelson Mandela, true to petty bourgeois form, said that Botha helped to pave the way for a “multi-racial democracy.”
Botha, who was president of apartheid South Africa from 1978 to 1989, was known for his brutal ruthlessness and had jailed and tortured thousands of Africans in attempts to maintain the anti-African settler colonial State.
In some ways, Botha's application of the apartheid system was less repressive than that of his predecessors: interracial marriage and miscegenation - both completely banned since the late 1940s - was legalised, and the constitutional prohibition on multiracial political parties was lifted. He also relaxed the Group Areas Act, which barred non-whites from living in certain areas. In 1983, the above constitutional reforms granted limited political rights to Coloureds and Indians. Botha also became the first South African government leader to authorise contacts with Nelson Mandela, the imprisoned leader of the African National Congress.
Botha, who was president of apartheid South Africa from 1978 to 1989, was known for his brutal ruthlessness and had jailed and tortured thousands of Africans in attempts to maintain the anti-African settler colonial State.
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