Former South Africa president Pieter Willem Botha, who led the country defying international condemnation of apartheid, has died. He was 90.
Botha, who suffered a stroke two weeks ago, died peacefully at his home in the town of George in Cape Province late on Tuesday night.
Botha became a member of the former all-white parliament in 1948 and gradually rose up the ladder to be appointed defence minister by his predecessor B J Vorster.
He was elected prime minister in 1978 after becoming chief of the then ruling National Party.
He held the position of PM for six years before becoming the president in 1984.
Botha, nicknamed the "groot crocodile" because of his tough stance against the international community, stepped down in 1989 after a mild stroke and F W de Klerk took over.
Botha's time as PM and then president, between 1978 and 1989, were marked by racial violence and international isolation.
In an attempt to thwart the international community, he introduced the tri-cameral Parliament for whites, coloureds (mixed race) and Indians while offering political rights for the black majority in the so-called bantustans.
However, he resisted the release of prisoners during his tenure.
Botha was never really happy that the whites had conceded power after the country's first multi-racial elections in 1994, which was won by Nelson Mandela's ANC.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission set up by Mandela's government implicated him in 1998 of human rights violations during his rule.
He escaped prosecution because of failing health and spent his last years in a seaside resort.
