My Visit to former State President PW Botha for 5 Days in 2006

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I sent a copy of my book, Government by Deception to PW Botha. He liked the book and his wife sent me a note thanking me for it. Then PW Botha began to phone me. He would phone me and sometimes talk to me for an hour. I would make notes and I would publish it on my website, AfricanCrisis. I still have all the articles that I wrote, based on my discussions with him. His wife would print out what I had written, and he would read it.

PW Botha was so impressed with my extreme accuracy in what I wrote, about our conversations that he phoned me more often. I made notes of every call and write down what he told me. My website was the only one in the country publishing whatever he told me. I was then invited to his house for 5 days. How house was called Die Anker (The Anchor).

I spent the 5 days with him and talked to him at length, asking questions. He also would at times just begin telling me things about his own thoughts and impressions in the past.

PW Botha was extremely angry with his successor F. W. De Klerk. PW Botha told a number of people the same things that he told me. He said that F. W. De Klerk had sold out the country in return for his Nobel Prizes. He mentioned specifically the organisation B’Nai B’rith as rewarding him financially for selling out the country. I think he gave the figure of R1 million.

I made notes about my discussions with him.

I found PW Botha to be lucid and in good health during my visit. He had a good memory and talked with ease. At the time of my visit I had published on my website that Die Rapport newspaper had an order to NEVER publish any articles about PW Botha. I was therefore extremely surprised when during my visit suddenly a Rapport journalist and photographer arrived to interview PW Botha – perhaps in an attempt to discredit my website and what I had written.

PW Botha was in great health, it was therefore quite a shock to me that he died suddenly, 11 days after I had left.

The Mass Media had tried to portray PW Botha as being old and senile, but this was complete nonsense. I spoke to him daily and he was in great shape for a man his age.

I have a number of photos of PW Botha that I took myself during that visit, which I have never published.