The Fletcher Memorial Home for Overgrown Infants and Incurable Tyrants

P W Botha, South African Prime Minister between 1978 and 1984 and their first President from 1984 to 1989 died on 31 October this year. He was credited for taking the first tentative (weak?) steps towards the end of the Apartheid system which segragated races in South Africa between 1948 and 1994. However, he was a stauch advocate of the system and remained unrepentant of it right up until his death. The system was comdemmed internationally as unjust and racist.

In 1999, Botha was "implicated" in the killings of anti apartheid activists by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission set up in South Africa after Apartheid ended. Botha refused to have anything to do with the Commission.

Some comments after his death ...

"They called him the Great Crocodile I will not weep tears for this crocodile. It would be hypocritical. He promised to make a land fit for all its citizens. He put them in prison. He let loose his torturers. He used his army of occupation in the townships. Children were shot down in 1976 when he was in the cabinet as minister of defence. He attacked Angola. He occupied Namibia. He destabilised Mozambique. He bombed Zimbabwe. He bombed Zambia.

"He was ruthless. He claimed to uphold human rights. He denied human rights. I will not mourn for him."

"We should not forget the kind of regime he represented, he was ruthless, he was brutal, he was a leader of apartheid during the harshest years of that regime, the sad truth is that he is leaving with many secrets which he should have revealed perhaps during the time of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission."

PW Botha used his army of occupation in the townships. Children were shot down in 1976 when he was in the cabinet as minister of defence. He attacked Angola. He occupied Namibia. He destabilised Mozambique. He bombed Zimbabwe. He bombed Zambia.

So where were the invading forces from the UN? Instead, South Africa were subject to years of international sanctions and endless diplomatic interventions. Crikey, we even stopped playing sport against them.

In the end Botha realised that they couldn't maintain the system of segregation he so loved. Yet, when it came to punishment after the end of Apartheid, he was allowed to retire gracefully to the coast and lead a relatively quiet existence.

Generally, I don't particularly have a major problem with this. But when you compare Botha's treatment to that of the recent trial of Sadaam Hussain, you have to wonder where the consistency is.