Palace revolution
ONE would have sworn the bunch of political fossils were at Tuynhuys for a state funeral that morning, so sombre and heavy was the atmosphere. Pik stood to one side, smoking, with little Kobie all but standing on his toes to create the illusion of a more imposing figure in the shadow of Pik’s hunched shoulders. A penny for the thoughts of the fly on the wall about what those two were discussing? Why, Mandela, of course! Kobie Coetsee firmly believed that, as minister of justice, he held the monopoly on acting as the government’s ears for the old man behind bars.
Some implied that it was Kobie’s little-man syndrome that would see him recorded for posterity in the heartbreaking annals of our country’s history as the indecisive minister. After all, he alone was responsible for leaving the security forces in the lurch when, due to his intransigence, negotiations for blanket amnesty had been scuppered at the eleventh hour at CODESA.
They were all there. The entire cabinet. FW and Pik had made sure of that, because on the eve of a general election, it was crunch time for the Nationalists. The prez was livid, and they all knew that even when he was in a good mood, he was not one to shy away from messy verbal confrontations. They had no doubt that the familiar steely glare and wagging in-your-face finger would be the order of the day. PW had called the special cabinet meeting on this morbid blue Monday, 14 August 1989. He knew all too well that he was fighting for survival and that his state of health would be shamelessly exploited during the palace revolution that was brewing.
Pious as always, as if butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth, Dawie de Villiers entered the room and bore down on FW.
‘Good day, colleague,’ were his opening words. ‘How do you feel about today? Do you think the prez will be willing to listen to us?’
Judging by the way FW was puffing on his cigarette, the tensions of the past week had begun to take their toll.
‘If we can just get through today and persuade PW this is in his best interest, we can start looking ahead again,’ said FW.
At the far end of the room, Vlokkie and Magnus were deep in conversation. Their voices were subdued, and it was obvious that the two securocrats were not discussing trivialities. As staunch PW men and unlike the others, they were not speculating about how the state president would handle the extraordinary cabinet meeting. Far more pressing matters were keeping these two men awake at night.
Barend was the last to arrive, rushing in like a whirlwind just as Jannie Roux entered the cabinet room.
‘Good morning, honourable ministers,’ said the man who bore an uncanny physical resemblance to PW.
‘Aha, here’s PW Junior, we must be about to start,’ someone commented loudly as the ministers moved slowly towards the door.
‘Ja, it’s strange that JR and PW not only look so much alike but are actually birds of a feather,’ another minister quipped as he led the way into the cabinet room.
‘Might I ask how you want to proceed?’ asked PW once everyone was seated comfortably around the table. ‘Do you want notes taken during the meeting or do you want a tape recording of what everyone has to say?’
‘It doesn’t matter, Mr President, perhaps we should make a tape recording,’ said FW.
‘A complete tape recording, not so?’ the state president affirmed, looking at each minister in turn. More than two years later, I would visit PW at Wilderness at his request, where he would give me a copy of the transcript of that recording.
Then little Dawie rose and asked PW if he might say a prayer.
‘Let us bow our heads. Lord, with all our limitations, with all our shortcomings, we work together that Thy kingdom might come, but we fail, we all fail in so many ways. Please forgive us. And so we pray this morning, raise us up above ourselves so that we can fix our vision on Thee and receive Thy light and wisdom, so that we can guide our people at this time. Amen.’
‘Good, thank you, Dr de Villiers. Shall we serve tea as usual around ten o’clock? I don’t know whether we have anything to eat, but no doubt you will want a cup of tea,’ PW said by way of opening.
‘My goodness,’ mumbled Gerrit behind his grey moustache. ‘The old bliksem is on his way out and he’s still worrying about snacks. Where the hell is Tannie Elize with her infernal biscuits?’ Throughout his tenure as rector of the Rand Afrikaans University and head of the Broederbond, the stately, silver-haired Gerrit Viljoen had presented the image of an exemplary, God-fearing Afrikaner. Few people realised how profane he could be when he had a hair up his arse.
‘Well gentlemen, welcome to this meeting. I had very good reason for calling it today. I am deeply conscious of the gravity of this meeting – I believe the entire country is – and I have every intention of allowing it to take place in that spirit,’ said the Groot Krokodil as he habitually licked his upper lip with satisfaction and fixed his relentless gaze on his ministers, who had come together that morning to plunge a dagger into his back.
Pik listened attentively, as unsure as anyone around the table about what to expect. The prez had always been unpredictable, and there was nothing so dangerous as a wounded buffalo. Such an animal simply disappeared into thick bush, circling round the hunter and then, when least expected, stormed in for the kill. Which was why Pik and the others had no idea what to expect. His thoughts turned involuntarily to the crap that PW’s official spokesman, Jack Viviers, had fed the media while the old man lay ill at Tygerberg.
An ex-newspaperman and in the pound seats at the president’s office, Jack had assumed he could control the news when journalists called him about PW’s condition on the day he’d had the stroke. ‘No, man, there’s nothing wrong with the state president,’ Jack the spin doctor told them confidently. ‘From where I am in my office, I can see the president sitting at his desk, working.’ What a load of shit he’d spun the journalists! It had ultimately cost him his job as presidential spokesman. At that very moment PW was, in fact, receiving emergency treatment in hospital.
Kobie glanced at PW as the president looked from one minister to the other through his wide-rimmed spectacles and thought back to that unfortunate day, exactly four years and a day before, when PW had refused to cross the Rubicon. The whole world had held its breath, believing that PW was about to take the giant step, toss apartheid out of the window and free Mandela. But then he threw a tantrum, all because Pik had dared to say that South Africa would be governed by a black president one day, and to spite the world, he hadn’t even dipped his toes in the Rubicon. It was all Pik’s fault, Kobie thought.
‘I believe I have done everything in my power to avoid this meeting,’ PW told his cabinet. ‘I don’t want to be melodramatic, and I hope no one else will be either, so that we can all be calm and state our cases as best we can.’
And then PW made his opening gambit. ‘I think what we should do is give everyone present the opportunity, should they so wish, to speak.’
In a departure from his usual style, the old man actually sat back and listened before he struck – to some extent unnerving especially his staunch supporters, who would now have to stand naked before him in betrayal.
‘I have set aside time for this meeting and I trust that I will be granted time, and at a certain stage of the meeting I would like to express my point of view. Mr de Klerk?’
‘I would like to touch on three matters, Mr President,’ said FW as PW focused on him. ‘The first is the meeting on Saturday to which all ministers, including members of the ministers’ council and all deputy ministers, were invited as the senior echelon of the National Party. That meeting was convened at a time when colleague Pik had been asked to speak to you and you had indicated that you did not want to speak to him. We were also informed by colleague Magnus that he wanted to come [to see you], but that you indicated this was not necessary. Is my memory correct, colleague?’ FW asked Magnus.
‘No, I wanted to go,’ the minister of defence confirmed.
‘You wanted to go but then colleague Pik asked, excuse me while I get the facts straight, if he could go, and then he reported to us that you did not wish to see him. We already knew that your statement was in the hands of the press, and we were forced to do something that would give us the opportunity to reflect and, at the same time, as far as possible, bring some calm and reason to the situation,’ FW continued.
‘Mr President, like you, we do not underestimate the enormous gravity of the situation that has arisen. There are two matters that have come to the fore. The first is the subject of your press statement, namely the proposed visit to President Kaunda, at his invitation.
‘At a given moment I decided, Mr President, that it was not in the interest of the party and the country to go and see him during an election period, and we placed the visit on ice. I had no intention of seeing him until after the election and until there was certainty about the election outcome,’ FW explained.
But then Pik had contacted FW and told him about the crisis looming over Koevoet’s activities in South West, and suggested that the situation warranted a visit to Kaunda as soon as possible, so as to determine a strategy or to try to avert a negative resolution by the UN Security Council about the Koevoet problem.
‘I informed him [Pik] that, in the circumstances, I would have to reconsider, but that I needed assurances on two scores,’ FW explained to PW and the rest of the cabinet.
‘The first was that it should not blow up in our faces, because we are dangerously close to the election. Secondly, I asked him to take the matter up with you. I am not trying to put the blame on colleague Pik; the factual version that he gave me, and us, indicates that within the framework of the circumstances he was dealing with, he effectively complied with my request.’
Then FW moved to allay suggestions that Kaunda had given him certain ANC documents, and vehemently denied that he was to act as the intermediary between the government and the terrorist organisation. It had been these very rumours, published by the media, that had incited the furious old man to issue a press statement.
‘My stance – and that of the National Party – in this regard is still the stance formulated under your leadership, namely that we negotiate only with people and organisations that eschew violence and who are committed to peaceful solutions. Secondly, Mr President, that we do not want to negotiate with such people through intermediaries.
‘For that reason, Mr President, with reference to the merit of this case, should any new facts emerge suggesting that it can be deduced that the National Party – and I as leader of the National Party – have adopted a shift in policy, I will make sure, from my side, that matters are dealt with in such a way that those inferences cannot be drawn.’
And then FW raised the real sore point at the base of the whole palaver, and said a ‘situation’ had now arisen in the public domain, which, in his opinion and that of his brothers in the cabinet, could not be dismissed lightly. ‘I am convinced that the press and other forces and powers, political parties, will not rest if we should attempt, this morning, to minimise the matter or dismiss it as not particularly serious.
‘We listened to you carefully last night. You indicated that you would consider resigning today, but we were especially struck by something else that you said. You said that your heart’s desire at this point was to withdraw from the spotlight with your family, to settle at the Wilderness and to devote yourself to your family and friends.
‘Mr President, the attack we are facing from the media and from our opponents rests on two pillars. The one is political, and the other implies that the administration of the country is ineffective at this point. I do not believe there will be any relief on either front, and that, from now until the election, our detractors will make sure that we are hounded from Dan to Beersheba unless we find a solution here today.
‘Therefore, Mr President, we feel, because we want you to know, as far as possible in the current circumstances, we would like to ensure the maximum preservation of your honour and your dignity. But, on the other hand, we should and must ensure, because we believe in our cause, that the National Party emerges from this situation in a manner that enables us to muster the full backing of those who want to support us, and to give them the heartfelt assurance that they can boldly stand with us and resist all attempts to undermine our political position and administration.
‘We thus want to propose, Mr President, that the most painless solution for you, the National Party and all of us would be for you to do as you did in March – move to the Wilderness and announce that you have decided to appoint an acting state president from now until after the election.’
FW made a final, desperate attempt to sweeten the poison pill by suggesting that the dust would settle almost immediately. ‘The massive amount of goodwill among a broad spectrum of the public will be retained. We believe that no one will hold it against you, or against us, if we can come to an amicable agreement.
‘Mr President, we believe that it would be in the best interest of yourself, the party and the country to discuss this course of action and for you to agree to it. Thank you, Mr President.’
‘Have you finished?’ PW asked, not even deigning to look at FW. ‘Thank you, Mr de Klerk. Mr Botha?’
It was obvious that Pik was in no mood for one of the old man’s regular tirades against him. For once in his life, he decided to hold his tongue.
‘I endorse the leader’s viewpoint, including the circumstances surrounding the whole Kaunda visit,’ was all he said before sitting down again.
In order of seniority, Magnus was next in line. As he rose from his chair, it was abundantly clear why he was every cartoonist’s dream.
‘Mr President, we have worked together for twenty-three years; we’ve walked a long road,’ he said in a benign prelude to putting the knife in.
‘We’ve known some good times. We’ve been through many a crisis. Let me tell you, in the culture that I grew up in, you don’t express criticism against a leader. For that reason, if I could have been spared this day, I would have been most grateful. What it comes down to, is this: If these press revelations had taken place before 24 July, before nomination court, I doubt that I would still have been in politics.
‘I want you to know – you are, in fact, the person who has brought me to where I am today in the cabinet. Because of that, it is with appreciation and acknowledgment towards you that I can say these few words. If the National Party loses the next election, then South Africa will lose. Things are not going well for the National Party at the moment with regard to the election. There is a massive undecided vote right now, and this meeting today and its outcome could have a tremendous effect on the National Party.
‘There are two decisions that were taken, that you took, not in my presence, about which I was not consulted and which, I think, have contributed in some measure to the situation we find ourselves in this morning.
‘The first was that you informed the caucus that you were stepping down as leader of the National Party. This carried massive implications. The greatest implication, and I’m not at all sure that all of us realised this, is that the new leader bears responsibility for the future of the National Party, and I believe that the success of a National Party or any political party is measured by an election – the outcome of an election.
‘If the National Party does well in the election, he will take the credit, and if the National Party fares badly, he will have to shoulder the blame for failure. Unless the leader of the National Party has at least some freedom of movement and expression, there is going to be a problem,’ Magnus blundered ahead with the sermon that would introduce his contribution to the sinking of PW. His next salvo was designed to lay the ground for him to support FW and get rid of PW once and for all. He pointed out that the leader of the National Party had never before assumed this position on the eve of a general election. The procedure had always been that the incumbent took the party to the polls and that his successor was given a few years’ grace to find his feet and set the National Party on course before there was another election. This time, Magnus pointed out, the process had been reversed.
‘I believe this makes matters extremely difficult for the leader or for anyone else. I think the second factor that is making things enormously difficult for the leader in this specific instance is that, in the eyes of the people, the head of state and the party leader are on a collision course. This gives rise to agonising uncertainty. Who should I follow? The man who has led the way over all the years and has the track record, or the man who has now been chosen to lead the party into the future?
‘In my opinion, Mr President, the second decision, which is what has actually led to us sitting here this morning, concerns the matter of the press statement. You have always told us that when colleagues start writing letters to one another, it’s a bad sign. We should talk to one another – tell one another what our problems are.’
Magnus was up to full speed now and, brilliant military strategist that he was, plucked out the honey brush for his next offensive.
‘Mr President, let me remind you that you called me in the middle of the night; it was 02h30. When I heard your voice, I immediately grabbed a pen and paper, because I thought we must be at war or that the country was facing a major security crisis. You told me that you couldn’t sleep – we had presented you with the biggest problem of your life. I accept that.
‘You asked if I had seen the television programme about the announcement that Kaunda made regarding the visit by two of our colleagues. I said I had not seen the programme. You asked if I was aware of it. I replied that I had not heard about it officially, but that I did hear something about it in the course of the day. I had been busy all day with Dr Savimbi and a delegation from Zaire, with colleague Pik and his staff, and it came up during some or other conversation. I didn’t pay much attention, because it was not an aspect that involved me.
‘You said you were going to resign. I asked if you would allow me the opportunity to call the two colleagues concerned so that we could set matters right. I could not stand by and see you quit or resign in this situation, because we would be plunged into a crisis if we didn’t talk things through. You agreed that I should call them, and I did. At five minutes past three I called you back and told you that I had spoken to both colleagues, conveyed your sentiments, and that they would telephone you the next day.
‘You then said you intended to resign; we would read about it tomorrow. I asked you, please Mr President, reconsider your decision. Your two colleagues will be in touch with you during the day. You said you would not reconsider. The following morning you told me that you were cancelling meetings of the State Security Council and the cabinet, and that if asked why you had done so, you would give your reasons.’
Magnus again reminded PW that he had asked him not to take this drastic step. PW’s response was that his ministers seemed reluctant to contact him. When Magnus asked whether they could go and see him, PW agreed to consider this request.
By this time, Magnus was running out of obsequiousness and was preparing to go in for the kill.
‘Mr President, these two decisions and the consequences thereof are, to my mind, the reason we find ourselves here this morning, grappling with an enormously unpleasant and difficult situation for the country. You should know that, in my eyes, no other state president and no other prime minister has made the contribution that you have. I will continue to admire you for what you have done over so many years, and the people outside will admire you for what you have done.
‘I want to thank you very much, but in the circumstances, in the crisis the country has been plunged into, I think I must support the proposal made by the chief leader of the National Party.’
As Magnus took his seat, the old krokodil said not a word, his gaze fixed sternly on Gerrit. ‘Dr Viljoen?’
In keeping with his solid academic background, and as the former head of the Broederbond – the dark force that pulled the government’s strings while lurking in the National Party’s shadow – the grey-haired former rector of RAU rose to his feet and immediately began singing PW’s praises. In an unguarded moment, he was more than capable of referring to his cabinet colleagues as ‘brothers’. Then again, the majority, if not all of them, were Broederbonders anyway, so a slip of the tongue would not have mattered.
‘What I say here today is the result of serious consideration and the conviction that it is in accordance with the highest demands of my loyalty to you as a person and to the office of the state president, to the interests of the country and the interests of the National Party in these trying and critical circumstances.’
Without further preamble, Gerrit dredged up the circumstances when John Vorster had refused to step down, and reminded PW of his own words about that unfortunate chapter in South Africa’s political history.
‘I seem to recall, Mr President,’ said the prim and proper Gerrit in his inimitable academic style, ‘that at some point during every year that I’ve been privileged to serve the government under your leadership, you have emphasised that we should be candid enough, if we believed it was time for you to go, to suggest that you should vacate the office.
‘You have also repeatedly said that if you sensed this, you would act accordingly, since you remember all too well the unhappy consequences of your predecessor’s attitude, and that you would never place the party or your colleagues in a similar situation.
‘Mr President, I believe that you should respond to the proposal made by colleague De Klerk in accordance with the line that you yourself have drawn, and that in light of our high esteem and the great debt that we owe you for everything you have done, none of which can be denied, the best solution in the current circumstances would be for you to withdraw to the Wilderness and nominate the party leader as acting state president.
‘I believe this would be the best solution, Mr President, to the exceedingly unfortunate situation that has arisen because a problem between you and members of the cabinet has been made public by the media. Therefore, and I do not say this lightly, it is my sincere conviction, in accordance with the loyalties that I owe in this situation, that I should throw my support behind the suggestion made by colleague De Klerk,’ Gerrit ended his ode to PW.
As one might expect from a good, God-fearing cleric – or rather, a former dominee – Dawie de Villiers had a Bible tucked under his arm when it was his turn to speak.
‘Mr President, the situation is that the urn has broken,’ he said, glancing around the cabinet room as he paused to let his biblical reference sink in. ‘Recovery in the normal fashion is simply not possible. The situation demands special attention. There is no ideal solution and therefore, I must associate myself with the idea mooted by the party leader, namely that you hand over your duties to an acting successor. At least for the moment, your task is over.
‘As far as the election is concerned: the party needs to devote its full attention to the campaign, and we need to support one another fully to ensure that, in the best interests of South Africa, the party stands strong and continues to be the powerful instrument that you have helped to make it over many years, in order to build the future of South Africa. Thank you, Mr President.’
Like every other minister who first sang PW’s praises, then put the boot in with their closing words, little Kobie Coetsee rose and told the old man he had hoped to avoid melodrama on this day and would thus try to refrain from waxing lyrical.
‘I have literally grown up before your eyes,’ said Kobie, standing on his toes again to appear more in command of the situation. ‘I have been, and remain, very close to you. Please accept that. At some point in one’s life, and this is such a time, you have to take a stand, and I know that you prefer a man who has strong convictions to one who has none. It is my belief that what is at stake this morning is the administration of the country, and the interests of the party.
‘The image of our administration at this moment is not pretty, to put it mildly. With your help, we need to restore that image as soon as possible. Secondly, we have to win the election. There is no alternative for the country, and you said last night that you would like to do something for the party before 6 September.
‘What it is that you still want to do, whatever you have in mind, is for you to decide and possibly share with us, but, from my viewpoint, I believe that you should keep a hand on the party. The party must win. We have to be restored to glory as the ruling party. And, for that reason, I support what has already been said.’
Whether Eli Louw was merely guilty of a bad choice of words, or deliberately intent on angering PW, no one would ever know, but either way, the honourable minister put his foot firmly in his mouth when he rose to deliver his farewell message.
‘Mr President, I wish to say something, and I trust you will not hold it against me. The PW Botha that I knew prior to your stroke is not the same man I have come to know since then.’
‘Just a moment. Do you want to repeat what you’ve just said?’ PW interrupted, casting aside his assurance that he would listen to each minister in turn before responding.
Eli: ‘I said, the leader PW Botha that I have seen since you had a stroke is not the same man that he was before.’
PW: ‘Don’t you think your choice of words is unfortunate?’
Eli: ‘Mr President, please allow me …’ he tried to interject, knowing it was ill advised.
PW: ‘Why do you bring up my illness, which has nothing to do with this discussion?’
Eli: ‘Because it has influenced the situation. For example, I cannot reconcile this letter, this press statement, with the man I have come to know.’
PW: ‘Is that the story you want to stick to? You have deviated from an extremely high level of discussion. You have made this personal. Why are you doing this?’
Eli: ‘Mr President …’
PW: ‘May I ask if you would not rather reconsider? What you have said is a terrible thing.’
Eli: ‘Mr President, I apologise, I meant no offence. I assure you, my compassion for you is in no way diminished.’
Thrown off track momentarily by PW’s sudden tirade, Eli steamed ahead. ‘The question now is: What is the best course of action? What happened in the federal council, what happened in the caucus, cannot be undone. The letter you wrote, the statement, cannot be retracted. So what matters now is that the National Party must emerge from this situation if not unscathed, then at least in the best possible way. Administration of the country has to carry on as effectively as possible.’
After tea, it would be the Groot Krokodil’s turn, and every minister knew what lay ahead. Their subdued conversation while having tea and biscuits was a good indication of the pregnant expectations of the cabinet ministers. They knew they were in for a savage tongue-lashing.
PW was already seated and waiting when the ministers shuffled in and settled down. He looked from one to the other with that familiar withering gaze that would have subjugated even Medusa. He ran his tongue over his upper lip again, adjusted his spectacles and asked: ‘Gentlemen, are you ready to proceed?
‘I will try to say what I have to say according to notes that I’ve made and end by making certain suggestions to you. I want to thank you, colleagues, for the remarkably high level at which each of you has put his case. There was one incident to which I took exception. I’ll put that down to inexperience,’ he hit back at the pathetic and punch-drunk Eli Louw for bringing up his illness. Every political journalist and politician in the country knew that PW’s stroke was a highly sensitive matter. Especially should anyone dare suggest that any of his faculties had been impaired.
‘This is not the first time in my life that I’ve attended a cabinet meeting of this nature. For some of you, it is a new experience. I hope that those of you who are new to this will be less naive after this morning. I am reminded of one or two past occasions, for example the cabinet meeting before we called the referendum, when consternation reigned and the cabinet didn’t have the stomach for a referendum and, with a single vote, or one and a half votes in favour, I had to overrule the cabinet and make a decision.
‘We held a referendum, and after that referendum, just about everyone sang my praises. There have been other such decisions in the past few years, when I virtually stood alone and adopted a viewpoint in opposition to the considered opinion of the majority in the cabinet. I am not using this as an argument to justify my position this morning. It is possible that what I have to say this morning will include one or two matters that could be taken personally and, if that is so, let me apologise right now. I don’t want to get personal, but I am dealing factually and from experience with what has taken place this year.
‘I think it would be true to say, with great sincerity, that I respect all of you. We are linked by special bonds – political bonds, bonds of friendship – and because of this, some of the things that have been said here this morning are harder than others to digest. But I accept them in the same spirit as always.’
Having dispensed with the formal niceties, PW swung into action. ‘Sadly, reference has been made to a time in my life when I became ill, briefly ill. Perhaps it is my greatest sin that I fell ill. And when it happened, and with all the grace that I received during that time, I decided not to cling to power, but to take another step towards letting go, as I have been doing for some years.
‘I have never tried to hold all the power in my own hands; I have tried, through delegation and by sharing, to give power to others, as any leader should. But as I was preparing to leave my sickbed, having decided to concentrate on regaining my physical strength, a media campaign was launched against me, fed in part by leaks from the caucus, and, as you sit here this morning, you all know that this is true. You know it’s true. Does anyone here wish to differ? If so, do it now. A media storm broke out against me and national newspapers took part in that unsavoury campaign.
‘Early in March, I appealed to the four leaders of the party to meet me, for the sake of the party. They came here, to my office. And after that, I appealed to them to convene the party’s federal council, so that I could meet with them. I was denied that opportunity. When I wanted to meet with the party’s highest advisory body, the party’s highest advisory body made it impossible for me to do so. Is there anyone here, around this table, who wants to deny that?’
‘Mr President,’ FW interjected, ‘may I say that our approach was twofold. Firstly, we wanted to create an opportunity for you to meet the federal council, but we felt that the federal council, as constituted, should first deliberate in order to formulate its point of view.’
‘I don’t want to get embroiled in an argument with you, which is why I did not interrupt you while you were speaking,’ PW retorted immediately, glaring at FW for several seconds. ‘You are extremely quick to interrupt me. I asked for time to address you.’
Barely pausing to take a breath, PW asked FW if it was true that the federal council had made a decision that was in direct conflict with his request.
‘And you did not give me the opportunity to defend my views before the federal council. That is what happened. That is what happened,’ said PW without even giving FW a chance to respond.
‘I asked to address the caucus. That same night, the caucus took a decision without inviting me to do so. That is also true. And then I came back and said I would attend the budget debate as head of state, because I considered it my duty to be present when the government’s financial proposals were being tabled, and I was here.
‘For your edification, Mr Louw, I was still recuperating at the time,’ PW said with another snide reference to Eli’s unfortunate mention of the state president’s health.
Then, said PW, he proceeded to prepare for his own budget debate in parliament and, he told his ministers, he believed he had handled it well.
‘But several ministers were conspicuously absent when my budget was under debate. And I have to mention that this morning, and I don’t do so in bad spirit. You [FW] yourself avoided it. You chose to attend other functions in Natal. Shortly after the first caucus meeting elected you leader of the party – and I don’t mean to be derogatory – you came to see me at Westbrook. My recollection is that I received you cordially. I told you that there were a few crucial dates ahead for me.
‘I was going to the Wilderness, I was going to try and recover as quickly as possible, but there were a few future dates that I wanted you to be aware of before my budget came up, and so on. I was already preparing myself to accept with grace a new situation that had arisen. I told you, for instance, that I’d been invited to attend a function that was of great importance to me, in Graaff-Reinet, where I was to be honoured.
‘In the end, Minister Vlok accompanied me there, for which I am grateful. Your immediate reaction, Mr de Klerk, was “May I go with you?” I said yes, that can be arranged. After accepting the invitation and making it known that I was going to Graaff-Reinet, I had to read that you had called a special caucus meeting on the same date. You never went to Graaff-Reinet.
‘I am just mentioning a few matters in passing. These are minor incidents which one will hopefully forget in the normal course of things. This meeting, as far as I’m concerned, is not the result of any single action on my part or by any one minister, but was prompted by the autonomous announcement by an African head of state of a meeting that he had with ministers of mine, on a date that I knew nothing about. And I wish to refer you to the handbook for ministers that is given to every minister on appointment, and which has been applicable to everyone who has served in the cabinet, or continues to do so, since 19 January 1985.
‘I note that the Burger spoke this morning of “technicalities”. That is the Burger’s idea of technicalities. What do they understand of the relationship between ministers and head of state when they say this? Technicalities! According to that handbook, ministers may make official visits to foreign countries where such visits are deemed essential in the national interest.’
PW turned his attention to Pik and various telephone conversations between him and his minister of foreign affairs. ‘He called me at my private residence in the Wilderness from Pretoria. I had just arrived at the Wilderness – and this might sound strange to you, I had just walked into my kitchen, of all places; my wife was not even there. I took the call there, in the kitchen.
‘He informed me that friction had arisen between Dr Savimbi, UNITA, on the one hand, and President Mobutu on the other. And that President Houphouët-Boigny (Ivory Coast) was unhappy about the role that President Mobutu was playing. He asked if he could see me that same night, here in Cape Town. I rushed back here.
‘Shortly after six on Thursday 10 August he telephoned again, to Westbrooke, to tell me that President Mobutu and Dr Savimbi had – to use his expression – got things off their chests through their respective people and had made peace, and would hold further talks, so it would not be necessary for Dr Savimbi to come and see me.
‘Soon afterwards, I was still making myself at home, shortly afterwards, at eight, I had to learn from the television news that President Kaunda had announced that Messrs Pik Botha and FW de Klerk would visit Zambia on 28 August to hold talks with him. This had not been cleared with me in terms of the ministerial rules to which I referred earlier. I immediately telephoned Minister Botha at the state guesthouse. They were still holding talks.
‘Correct me if I’m wrong – you were still holding discussions at that stage?’ PW asked Pik.
‘Yes,’ Pik responded brusquely.
For the benefit of his ministers, PW expanded on what else had happened that night, recalling Pik’s reaction when he eventually managed to reach him and inquired about Kaunda’s announcement on the television news.
‘He let me down. I will set the record straight before this newscast is over,’ was Pik’s reaction when confronted by PW.
‘I regarded it as an absolute slap in the face of South Africa’s head of state,’ PW told his cabinet.
‘I could not sleep that night. The head of a neighbouring state that is hostile towards us announced, without my knowledge, that two of my ministers were going to meet with him on a specific date. Does one not arrange such things in an orderly manner?
‘That night, I tell you, I didn’t sleep at all. First I telephoned Minister Botha, but I could not get hold of him. When that failed, I called Minister de Klerk. I was told he was in Johannesburg and could not be reached by phone.
‘Then I telephoned General Malan. He said so earlier. I told him, “But this is an untenable situation. I cannot accept this and, as head of state, I will not accept it.”
‘Now he is trying to tell you that I said I would resign. I said that rather than accept the situation, I would resign. Why don’t you stick to my words? I expect a man to be true to his words. He said he would contact the two gentlemen concerned and he would call me back, which he did – in the early hours of the morning.
‘Colleagues, as a head of state – and, according to all of you, I’m such a wonderful man, I’m such a superman, I barely recognised myself this morning as I listened to the personal testimony delivered here by people who regard me as a superman – if I am such a superman, people would take immediate notice of the superman’s problems, not so? And you would take steps in order to say: “Sir, we are already on our way. Thanks to the minister of defence, we are already on the way to discuss with you this extremely serious matter that has arisen.”
‘I came to the office, but meanwhile the newspapers were full of Kaunda announcing that he was going to see two of my ministers. Just as Maggie Thatcher announced that she was going to meet with some of my ministers. Like Kohl announced he was going to talk to my ministers.
‘What I want to know is, who is responsible for these leaks?’ a visibly agitated PW asked.
‘Which department is responsible for these leaks? To what extent has the press been used to bypass me?’
Next, PW turned to the statement he had issued that morning, in which he said that, in contravention of the rules governing foreign visits by ministers, he had not known about the talks announced by Kaunda.
‘Since then, I have received numerous telephone calls, among others from Minister RF Botha and Minister FW de Klerk. My response to Minister RF Botha was that one does not deal with matters of this nature telephonically.
‘Is that what I told you?’ PW shot at Pik, glaring at him over the rim of his spectacles.
Pik: ‘Among other things, yes. But you said a great deal more.’
Pik: ‘Indeed.’
PW: ‘This superman was angry.’
Pik: ‘Yes, you were.’
PW: ‘Yes, this wonderful man. And he had every reason to be angry.’
There was no question about it: PW was extremely hot under the collar and more than ready to read Pik and FW the riot act over their ‘scheming with the enemy’.
‘The ANC is organised and orchestrated out of Lusaka. That is a fact. The ANC is protected by President Kaunda, and I can therefore not allow the minister of national education [FW] to undertake a journey to hold further talks with President Kaunda in these circumstances.
‘John Vorster tried, as one head of government to another. John Vorster met him on the railway bridge at Livingstone. And afterwards, John Vorster said Kaunda was a scoundrel. And he made public to the world a letter that Kaunda had written to him, to prove that he was a scoundrel.
‘After John Vorster disappeared from the scene and I became prime minister, there were renewed attempts from Kaunda’s side for dialogue with us. I finally agreed to talk to him, but I said that would only happen on the border. And two of our colleagues were with me, the minister of defence and the minister of foreign affairs.
‘We went and sat on the border between Botswana and South Africa, at a point where the boundary clearly ran through the middle of the vehicles, with him on one side of the table and me on the other. I did not run after him, because I knew I was dealing with a man who wants to subjugate this country under the African National Congress.’
Next, PW turned to the fax that FW had sent him following all the midnight drama: ‘As I requested of you this morning, I would appreciate it if you could meet a delegation of National Party ministers as a matter of urgency, at a time and place of your choosing.’
PW had responded, also by fax: ‘I am surprised to learn that you wish to organise a delegation of ministers. A meeting of the cabinet has been arranged for Monday morning 14 August at half past eight at Tuynhuys.’
‘I knew what awaited me over the weekend,’ PW told his ministers. There was no doubt that he was exhausted from all the political in-fighting, coupled with ill-health. But this had not stopped the Groot Krokodil from drawing strength from somewhere and fighting back relentlessly against the palace revolution.
‘Because you see, and I state this as a fact this morning, this cabinet is a sieve. Most of the matters discussed in this cabinet are leaked. And that is why I felt that we should take a good look at things this morning. It is quite clear to me that, despite my best efforts for the National Party and for the government and for the country, I am being ignored, just as I have been ignored in the past few days.
‘But colleagues, we need to lay our cards on the table this morning. I have warned against Kaunda, even within party context. On 17 July at a meeting of the State Security Council, I warned against Kaunda and said this man would try to bring South Africa under the ANC’s heel.
‘And I want to tell this cabinet today that Kaunda has succeeded in dividing you against me to the point that you want me to go. Kaunda is not only sheltering the ANC in Lusaka, he made a house available on the same property as State House for Oliver Tambo, from which the leadership emanated for the murder of innocent women and children in this country.
‘You are willing to sacrifice me for the sake of talking to Kaunda – this cabinet is prepared to do that. I have had reason on various occasions to warn against this and I have spoken to several ministers in this regard, but the superman’s warnings have had no effect.
‘I believe the country is entitled to know why I have adopted a specific attitude towards Kaunda. And having been the target of an unfair press campaign, I will have no choice but to go on television and state my case to the country. I can no longer remain silent. I have toiled day and night for the security of this country. And I expected a somewhat different viewpoint this morning from the minister of defence and the minister of law and order, but they have become soft in the process. You will have to face your soldiers and your policemen.’
Bombastic and obstinate as ever, PW explained firmly to his ministers that he had no intention of appointing an acting state president, because he was not sick and was not going out of the country.
‘Make your choice here,’ he said bluntly, his words evoking almost palpable despair in FW and Pik. For days they had been lobbying and laying the ground and now, true to form, the old man had thrown a spanner in the works.
‘I am warning you today, you are playing with fire,’ he said like a prophet of old. ‘You are playing with the ANC. You are playing with the ANC. Kaunda wants to force South Africa together with members of the EPG [Eminent Persons Group], and my colleague from foreign affairs knows that! He knows how I have resisted the EPG and what I have put up with since 1985.’
Hot on the heels of the hiding meted out to Pik, it was Eli Louw’s turn, with PW referring to him as the ‘junior minister’ who had ‘distastefully’ brought up his state of health. ‘Are you surprised that my health has suffered under what I’ve gone through since 1985? Are you not ashamed of yourself?
‘I say Kaunda wants to use the ANC to put certain constitutional proposals to you. Now it appears, according to the most recent information that I have, that Oliver Tambo has suffered a severe stroke and is paralysed on his right side. That does not bode well for this country, because it means that Umkhonto we Sizwe is going to be stronger than ever.
‘And that means that Kaunda is going to draw you into this trap to negotiate with the ANC and you will have to say no. You could have let me say so and guide you accordingly. But no, you are in too much of a hurry. Too much of a hurry.’
Turning to the early general election that the country faced, PW said there was a way to win but, though he avoided the actual words, he saw his ministers as a bunch of slackers and weaklings.
‘I’ve watched you on television, all of you sitting around this cabinet table. Most of you, or at least many of you, have appeared on television and performed badly, abysmally. And that includes the ministers who proclaim that the state president’s wings must be clipped. His powers must be reined in.
‘The story that is being insidiously spread around the world is that I claim all power for myself and that I have become impossible. Especially since my stroke, I am not the same man. What a humiliating comment that was to make this morning. Especially coming from a man who proclaims how wonderful it has been to serve in my office.
‘You are wrong. I am not prepared to appoint an acting state president, because I am not ill. I am prepared to quit tonight, but I will tell the country why. And I will walk out like a man, like the straight-talking man that I’ve been presented as – now I will speak candidly once more.’
With that, he resumed his ranting about spineless ministers and accused them again of coming across as weaklings on television. ‘You are apologetic, you are like people who have given up the fight. And do you know why the Nationalists are fed up with you? Because the party abandoned all sense of propriety in the caucus earlier this year and because the federal council lost all sense of propriety earlier in the year.
‘You know our people are not stupid. They see these things. You know how many executive members of the party have resigned. You know that I went to the Cape congress and that I made a speech to try and quash any wrong impressions that might have been created.
‘You know that during my budget debate in parliament I told Andries Treurnicht that he should not try to play the party off against me. Now suddenly, in your judgment, I must throw in the towel in order to save the party?
‘Two weeks ago, I told you in cabinet that you had to fight. That you had to stop leaving the party in the lurch, that you were showing weakness, and I say that to you again this morning. Now you’re looking for a scapegoat. Now you need to find one. I’ll tell you what should have happened – and the leader must excuse me, since we are being frank with one another.
‘You should have stood in Vereeniging. A leader fights, or he goes under. You cannot play state president when you are not yet state president.
‘I must now withdraw to the Wilderness. True, I have always had the desire to retire gracefully from politics, but I did not ask the federal council and the caucus to act the way they did. I did not allow these press campaigns to take place without contradiction.
‘Yet you have what I can only call the arrogance to come and tell me this morning, after fifty-three years of service to the National Party, pack your bags and go and sit in the Wilderness and appoint someone else. Because I oppose the ANC? Is that why I must go? I am prepared to step down tonight, but then I will spell out my reasons. As of tonight.
‘With your agreement I will telephone the chief justice this afternoon and I will fax a letter to him saying that I will retire tonight as state president, and I will give my reasons. And I will stand or fall by them.’
PW had barely ended his lengthy rebuke and was about to ask if anyone wished to say anything else, when FW was up on his hind legs again.
‘Our proposition was bona fide, made in the hope of averting confrontation between you and us,’ he said in an effort to defuse the strained atmosphere between PW and his ministers.
‘Depending on what you say, we may not be able to remain silent; we may be forced to put our case loud and clear.
‘I began by saying that the Kaunda question does not represent a change in attitude towards the ANC or our strong stance against the ANC. Any assumption that we wish to collaborate with the ANC – that we are naive in respect of Kaunda – would honestly be incorrect,’ responded the future state president to accusations of a softening towards the ANC.
‘Why did you and colleague Botha not chisel out this Kaunda thing on any of the numerous occasions there were to do so in the State Security Council?’ PW asked. ‘Why were you silent on this point when I spoke about Kaunda in the SSC? When we received one briefing after another about the ANC. Why did you remain silent?
‘Do you realise that our SSC has become a laughing stock? And I will say so tonight. It has become an absurdity, because the officials have their say, the briefings are listened to and then I ask if there are any questions. And no one says a word.
‘But colleague Coetsee who is sitting there, I don’t want to attack you personally, you say you grew up before me. Actually, that’s not really true,’ said PW, pissing on Kobie’s battery.
‘We were just close to one another. But you know that what I say about the ANC is the truth,’ PW said, addressing entirely the wrong member of his cabinet. Kobie was so enamoured of Mandela that he would find no fault with the ANC.
‘You know that is the gospel truth. And you, Mr Vlok, you know that what I am saying is the gospel truth. And here sits the minister of defence. He has made one speech after another in this election campaign about the ANC. Well, there’s no point being strong on stage if you are weak around the table.
‘You have come to me with a proposition, you’ve been firing one another up since Saturday; without hearing me, you got together and cooked this up. You held a caucus. Not all of you, not all of you were there, some have just fallen in line with the rest.
‘And now you’ve come here, all hot and heavy. I could see last night already what direction things were taking. When I opened the newspapers this morning, it was obvious – the die has been cast. The propaganda machine is working overtime.
‘But, as reasonable beings, there is one thing you should understand today. I will not go without giving my reasons. Why should I accept that I must retreat to the Wilderness? Because my cabinet does not like me?
‘For heaven’s sake! When Maggie Thatcher’s cabinet didn’t like her a little while ago, she fired them! To tell you the truth, I have every right to fire the lot of you. If I was vindictive enough, I would.
‘That is what I told colleague Botha. A minister must abide by the head of state’s decision, but now I read that I want to fire him. He knows very well that isn’t true. He knows exactly how much I value his services as foreign minister.’
‘I informed the press that it was not true,’ Pik interjected.
PW: ‘Yet they continue to say it.’
Pik: ‘But I told them it’s not true.’
PW: ‘You see, this is the cloud under which I must move to the Wilderness. Under the reproach of heaven knows who and to be laughed at by my friends. For the first time in the history of this country, a cabinet had told its head that he is not wanted.’
And with that, PW adjourned the meeting so that his ministers could discuss his terms.
When they reconvened a short while later, it was FW who tried to challenge PW’s allegations that the cabinet had softened its stance towards the ANC and was being led by the nose by the likes of Kaunda.
But he made little headway before PW interrupted him and made it clear that he was not interested in excuses from his ministers.
‘I am in the process of spelling out my reasons for resigning,’ he cut FW short.
But FW refused to be cowed and told the old man that, whether he liked it or not, his cabinet was sticking to its guns and wanted him to retire to the Wilderness on grounds of ill health.
It was tantamount to waving a red flag in front of a bull. PW was furious.
‘That is the coward’s way out. In other words, you are taking your cue from Mr Louw’s insinuation that I am incapable of thinking for myself! How can you make that insinuation with a smile, even while you’re holding a dagger in your hand?’
‘Mr President, that is not what I was insinuating,’ was all FW could add.
‘Look, now you have gone too far. I am healthy. Is each one of you in a position to present a medical certificate stating that you are healthy? Tell me, how many of you are sitting here with medication in your pockets? But you drag up my state of health. It’s preposterous! So that will be your new approach, that will be your next propaganda. He is not compos mentis!’
‘No, that is not what we are saying,’ FW said in an attempt to restore the peace.
‘Oh yes, that is exactly what you are saying. Where have you seen that my state of health has collapsed? I will leave tonight. And from tomorrow, I will relax. You won’t have to worry about my state of health, you can leave that in God’s hands.’
‘We will and we will hope …’ FW tried again.
‘And make sure your own relationship with Him is in order,’ PW cut him off. ‘Your words are nothing but outrageous. You are more tactless than I thought.’
FW: ‘You spoke candidly, and you asked that we should do the same.’
PW: ‘But I never attacked you personally, so why did you cast aspersions on my health? Is that the story that you and your henchmen are going to tell the world?’
FW: ‘I don’t have henchmen, Mr President.’
PW: ‘Oh yes you do, very much so!’
FW: ‘And I did not mean to insult you. It is a great pity that our almost lifelong association – two decades, in my case – should end this way. I want to assure you that I will deal with this situation on my knees and we pray for your strength and recovery.’
PW had had enough and he ended the meeting unequivocally.
‘I am sorry, colleagues, but I am not prepared to go along with the kind of hypocrisy that you manipulated the federal council into accepting. You know that motion was nothing but hypocrisy. I am not prepared to rescue you with a lie.
‘I will go on television tonight and tell the country why I am stepping down. Remember, when I am settled at the Wilderness, I will always make time for friends.
‘This is the dawn of a very difficult period for you. I feel sorry for you. You will not be able to control the forces you unleash.
‘I will say, tonight, that you wanted me to leave on a lie, but that I am not prepared to do so. No doubt you will all try everything in your power to stifle the truth, but I will give my true reasons, once, and then I will go home.’
That night, on the main news bulletin of SABC TV, PW officially announced that he was resigning as state president. True to his word, he told the nation, in some detail, how his ministers had effectively bullied him out of office.
Then he packed his bags at Tuynhuys and he and Tannie Elize retreated to Die Anker at the Wilderness.
Soon afterwards, FW was officially elected as his successor, and less than six months later, on 2 February 1990, he delivered his historic speech in parliament that unbanned the ANC and led to Nelson Mandela’s release.
Just nine days later, on 11 February, Mandela took the last steps on his long walk to freedom and walked out of prison a free man.