Botha I cabinet

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The Botha I cabinet was formed on October 9, 1978, after Balthazar Johannes Vorster resigned as South African Prime Minister on September 29 and the office was taken over by Pieter Willem Botha .

initial situation

On November 30, 1977 nationwide elections for the South African Parliament ( House of Assembly ) and for the Provincial Council had taken place. With the exception of the Natal Province , the National Party (NP) emerged as a strong winner in all representations. The National Party won 134 seats in parliament, the highest number that any party in South Africa had ever achieved.

In 1977 there were reshuffles in the South African party system, which were triggered by the collapse of the United Party (UP), which resulted in the Progressive Federal Party (PFP), New Republic Party (NRP), South African Party (SAP).

In 1977, Prime Minister Vorster had promoted a debate on a constitutional reform that was supposed to introduce the election of MPs from the colored population and the population of Indian origin , based on a proposal from Pieter Willem Botha as party chairman in 1976.

After the death of Nicolaas Diederichs on August 21, 1978, the previous President of the Senate, Marais Viljoen, was elected as the successor to the office of President . The Senate ( Senate Act of 1978 ) should be abolished with the proposed constitutional reform.

Election of prime minister

Pieter Willem Botha, until then Minister of Defense, faced three rivals in the party’s internal nomination process for the office of Prime Minister. Before the votes, the SP Botha withdrew his candidacy. Connie Mulder and Roelof Frederik Botha ran for the election . In the first nomination ballot within the NP parliamentary group, the election result was unclear (PW Botha 78 votes, Mulder 72 votes, RF Botha 22 votes). A second ballot was required, with Foreign Secretary Botha no longer standing and declaring his support for the Secretary of Defense. Pieter Willem Botha now achieved 98 votes and Connie Mulder lost with 74 votes. An opinion poll among the white population showed, however, that Foreign Minister Botha was considered by the public to be the far more popular candidate.

Cabinet composition

The following table shows the composition of the cabinet based on sources from 1979.

Business area minister Vice Minister
Prime Minister / Prime Minister Pieter Willem Botha (NP)
Agriculture / Agriculture Hendrik Stephanus Johannes Schoeman (NP) Sabel Antoine Strydom Hayward (NP)
Labor input / Manpower Utilization Fanie Botha (NP)
Finance / Finance Owen PF Horwood (NP) Pieter Theunis Christiaan du Plessis (NP)
Health and social care and pensions / Health and Social Welfare and Pensions LAPA Munnik (NP)
Industrial Affairs and Trade and Consumer Affairs SW van der Merwe (NP)
Justice and Home Affairs / Justice and Interior Alwyn Schlebusch (NP) for inside: SF Kotze (NP)
International Affairs / Foreign Affairs Botha of Spades (NP)
Public Works, statistics and Tourism / Public Works, Statistics and Tourism Andries Treurnicht (NP)
Cooperation and Development Piet Koornhof (NP) George de Villiers Morrison (NP) and Greyling Wentzel (NP)
Community development and affairs of Colored relationships and Indians / Community Development and Colored Relations and Indians Affairs SJM Steyn (NP) for geological development: SF Kotze (NP)
Police & Prison / Police and Prison Louis Le Grange (NP)
Defense and National Security / Defense and National Security PW Botha (NP) Kobie Coetsee (NP)
Mining and Environmental Planning and Energy FW de Klerk (NP)
Transportation / transportation Jan Christiaan Heunis (NP)
Water Affairs and Forestry / Water Affairs and Forestry Abraham J. Raubenheimer (NP)
Postal and telecommunications services / Posts and Telecommunications HH Smit (NP)
Education and training / Education and Training Ferdinand Hartzenberg (NP)
National Education and Sport and Recreation TNH Janson (NP)

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ SAIRR: A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1977 . Johannesburg 1978, p. 21
  2. ↑ SAIRR: Survey 1977 . 1978, p. 1
  3. ↑ SAIRR: Survey 1977 . 1978, pp. 12-20
  4. ↑ SAIRR: Survey 1977 . 1978, p. 7
  5. ↑ SAIRR: Survey 1977 . 1978, p. 3
  6. ^ SAIRR: Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1978 . Johannesburg 1979, p. 3
  7. ↑ Sheila Keeble (Ed.) SPP Kutumela, A. Booley: The Black Who's Who of Southern Africa Today . African Business Publ., Johannesburg 1979, 1st edition, p. 2