South African apartheid leader dies

JOHANNESBURG—The leaders of the new multi-racial South Africa have paid tribute to their former enemy P.W. Botha, saying the late president deserved credit for opening the door to the end of the apartheid era.
The passing of Botha, who died in his sleep on Tuesday night at his home in the Western Cape, served as a sharp reminder of the bitter racial conflict which he presided over as prime minister and then president from 1978 to 1989. Botha and his whites-only government were regarded as international pariahs over their refusal to enfranchise the black majority and outlawing of the African National Congress.
But Nelson Mandela, who spent the Botha years as a prison inmate before winning the first multi-racial elections in 1994, put aside any sense of bittnerness to express condolences for the man who branded him a terrorist.
“While to many, Mr Botha will remain a symbol of apartheid, we also remember him for the steps he took to pave the way towards the eventual peacefully negotiated settlement in our country,” Mandela said in a statement.—Agencies