The Botha Debate

Pieter Willem Botha (January 12, 1916 – October 31, 2006), commonly known as "PW" and Die Groot Krokodil (Afrikaans for "The Big Crocodile"), was the prime minister of South Africa from 1978 to 1984 and the first executive state president from 1984 to 1989. Botha was a long-time leader of South Africa's National Party and a staunch advocate of racial segregation and the apartheid system. Even under great domestic and international pressure in the later years of his career, he only minimally loosened some of the government's most stringent racial policies directed towards South Africa's majority black population and remained unrepentant till his death.

Botha died of a heart attack at his home in Wilderness on 31 October 2006, aged 90. Botha's death has swept the South African headlines and has afforded South Africans with an opportunity to demonstrate the magnanimity of spirit that prevented South Africa from collapsing in the 1990s.

Former President Nelson Mandela was reported as saying "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."

President Thabo Mbeki announced that flags would be flown at half mast until the eve of the funeral, to mark the death of a former head of state. The offer of a state funeral was declined by Botha's family. A private funeral was held on 8 November, in the town of George where Botha was buried. Mbeki attended the funeral.

Cosatu spoke out in vehement opposition to the stance of former President Nelson Mandela on the life and death of PW Botha. The union federation said Botha was a “brutal dictator” whose hands “were stained with the blood of hundreds murdered during the struggle for democracy”.

How do you feel about Botha, his death and the public reactions to it???
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Our PW Botha Biography

THE TERM ‘BOESMAN’/ ‘BUSHMAN’

This entry was provided by J.N. Faasen. A user of the SAHistory Online site.


The word ‘Bushman’ derives from the Middle-Dutch ‘bosjesman’, with the meaning of ‘savage, half-human’ – (Woordeboek van die Nederlandse Taal, Juta Publishers, 1902).


“BOSCHJESMEN”

Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal, Eerste Stuk, Eerste Deel, Muller en Kluyver (reds), Juta 1902, p. 655

[my translation(s) follow in square brackets]

Veelal ‘Bosjesman’, soms ook in de Kaapsch-Hollandsch vorm ‘Boesman’.

[Mostly ‘Bosjesman’, sometimes also in the Cape Dutch form ‘Boesman’].

Bosjesmen = Historiese naam in die 17e eeu deur die Holl. koloniste gegee aan een volkenstam in Zuid-Afrika, die een zwervend jagersleven leidt en op een zeer lagen trap van ligg. en geestel. ontw. staat, vanouds door Hottentotten, Kaffers, Holl. en Eng. kolonisten vooral als veedieven gevreesd en gehaat, als redeloose diere beschouwd, gedurig vervolgd en thans byna geheel uitgeroeyd.

[Bosjesmen = the historic name given in the 17th century by Dutch colonialists to a group in South Africa, who led a nomadic hunters life and were on a very low level of physical and spiritual development. They were feared and hated as stock thiefs by the ‘Hottentotten’, ‘Kaffers’, Dutch and English colonists, were regarded as animals without intellect, were constantly persecuted en are currently (1902) almost completely decimated.]

Historisch: Evenals boschmensch heeft boschman oorspronklik alleen betekend: ‘een in bossen, in de wildernis levend (en dus wild, woest, onbeschaafd) mensch, een wildeman.

[Historical: Just like ‘boschmensch’ did ‘boschman’ originally only mean: ‘One who lives in bushes, in the wild, and therefore is a wild, uncivilized human, a wild person.]

Vervolgens werde beide woorden ook toegepast op die fabelagtige wesens, half mens, half aap, waarvan reeds in oud Punische verhalen over de binnenlanden van Afrika by Plinius gewagt word gemaakt, en die men in de later ontdekte hooger ontwikkelde soorten van apen teruggevonden meende te hebben.

[Both words (‘boschmens’ and ‘boschman’) were also applied to refer to the mythic creaturers, half-human, half-ape, that are mentioned in old Punic stories by Plinius about the interior of Africa, the qualities of which were believed to be found in the later discovered, higher developed apes.]

In dezen sin noemt Van Riebeeck in 1654 een Kaapschen baviaan een ‘boschmanneken’ of orang-oetang, zie Boschman, Boschmens.

In this context Van Riebeeck calls a Cape baboon a ‘boschmanneken’ in 1654, the Dutch word for ‘orang-oetang’ (with which he was familiar from his travels in the East), see ‘Boschman’, ‘Boschmens’.

HET IS NIET ONWAARSCHYNLIK DAT DE NAAM ‘BOSCH(JES)MAN’ IN DEZE BETEKENIS VAN AAPMENSCH DOOR DE KOLONISTE IS OVERGEDRAGEN OP DEN VERACHTEN VOLKSSTAM, DIEN ZY INDERDAAD HIELDEN VOOR WEZENS VAN VEEL LAGER ORDE, NAUWELIKS VAN APEN ONDERSCHEIDEN. – my own capital letters

[THE POSSIBILITY CANNOT BE RULED OUT THAT THE NAME ‘BOSCH(JES)MAN’ IN THIS MEANING OF ‘APE-MAN’ WAS CARRIED OVER TO THE DESPISED GROUP/TRIBE, WHOM THEY IN FACT REGARDED AS CREATURES OF A MUCH LOWER LEVEL, HARDLY INDISTINGUISHABLE FROM APES]

In 1685 schynt de naam Bosjesman door hen te zyn gebesigd om den volksstam aan te duiden, dien zy vroeger meest met den Hottentotschen naam ‘Soaqua’ of ‘Sonqua’ , of ook wel ‘Vischmans’ genoemd hadden.

[In 1685 the name ‘Bosjesman’ was used to refer to this group, who was earlier called by the ‘Hottentot’ name ‘Soaqua’ or ‘Sonqua’ or ‘Vischmans’.

Boschman

In de volgende plaats toegepas op een orang-oetang: ‘Heden word doot gevonden aen’t gebergte een bosmanneken, op Batavia orang-otang genoemt’ [JVR se Dagregister, Deel 1 p. 343]

[Means ‘orang-oetang’ in the following: ‘Today a dead bosmanneken was in the mountain, which is called ‘orang-otang’ in Batavia’ – Jan van Riebeecks Diary, Part 1, p.343]

Boschmensch

Een wilde die in de bossen leef, een mens in den wilden, nog onbeschaafde staat.

[It means: a wild person that lives in the bushes, a person in the wild, yet uncivilised condition]
Boschenmensch = naam van die bekende op Borneo en Sumatra in de boschen levenden op een mensch gelykenden aap (Simia Satyrus) = letterlike vertaling van die Maleise woorde orang oetan, onder welke naam hy tans meer algemeen bekend is.

[Boschenmensch – naam of the well known ape in the bushes of Borneo and Sumatra, looks like a human (Simia Satyrus), a direct translation of the Malay word ‘Orang oetan’ under which name it is better known]


This Middle Dutch Dictionary (Juta, 1902) was published long before any tampering by Apartheid rulers could take place, and can therefore be regarded as being based on actual use, as recorded by Dutch linguists in the late 19th century.


J.N. Faasen
29-05-2006