The Imperial Presidency: P.W. Botha, the First 10 Years by Brian Pottinger (1988)

Description

Pieter Willem Botha was elected Prime Minister of South Africa on 28 September 1978 after a bitter struggle within the ruling National Party.

In his first decade as Head of Government he presided over sweeping changes in politics, the economy and the society. In some cases he initiated those changes and in others merely responded.

He was the first Afrikaner Nationalist leader to publicly admit the folly of classical apartheid, and challenged his supporters to accept limited power sharing with people of other races – a move that split his party and the Afrikaner people.

This book tracks the drama of his controversial accession to power, his reform phase, the rise of the bureaucrat class and the last years of a turbulent first decade in power.