Pieter Willem Botha (1916 – 2006)
Commonly known as "PW", was the prime minister of South Africa from 1978 to 1984 and the first executive state president from 1984 to 1989.
I want to warn young people who lend their ears to radicals and who play around with the music from Lusaka - they will end up inside the bear's fur coat, but they will no longer be able to live.
I am sick and tired of the hollow parrot-cry of “Apartheid!” I’ve said many times that the word “Apartheid” means good neighbourliness.
It's a psychological onslaught, an economic one, a diplomatic one, a military onslaught - a total onslaught.
I believe we are today crossing the Rubicon, Mr Chairman. In South Africa there can be no turning back. I have a manifesto for the future of our country and we must engage in positive action in the months and years that lie ahead.
Nelson Mandela can rot in prison until he dies or I die, whichever takes longer.
Half a century ago in this court I was sworn in as the Member of Parliament for George. And here I am today … I am not better than General De Wet. I am not better than President Steyn. Like them I stand firm in my principles. I can do no different. So help me God.
The white people who came here lived at a very much higher standard than the indigenous peoples, and with a very rich tradition which they brought with them from Europe.
I am not against the provision of the necessary medical assistance to Coloured and natives, because, unless they receive that medical aid, they become a source of danger to the European community.
The security and happiness of all minority groups in South Africa depend on the Afrikaner. Whether they are English- or German- or Portuguese- or Italian-speaking, or even Jewish-speaking, makes no difference.
Our history is responsible for the differences in the South African way of life.
Most blacks are happy, except those who have had other ideas pushed into their ears.
The free world wants to feed South Africa to the Red Crocodile [communism], to appease its hunger.
You could not claim for yourself that which you were not prepared to grant others.
South Africa is not a jellyfish and is in many respects a swordfish.
I am one of those who believe that there is no permanent home for even a section of the Bantu in the white area of South Africa and the destiny of South Africa depends on this essential point. If the principle of permanent residence for the black man in the area of the white is accepted then it is the beginning of the end of civilisation as we know it in this country.
I never have the nagging doubt of wondering whether perhaps I am wrong.
There is only one element that can break the Afrikaner ... and that is the Afrikaner himself.
We do not want chaos in South Africa.
The acceptance of vertical differentiation with the built-in principle of self-determination must apply on as many levels as possible.