An interview with Botha
By the standards of South Africa's all-white National Party, Prime Minister Pieter Willem Botha, 66, is a moderate. In his 18th-floor office in Cape Town, he talked with TIME Johannesburg Bureau Chief Marsh Clark about the political battle raging within Afrikanerdom. When Clark joked that the Prime Minister, who describes himself as a conservative, though not an "embalmed" one, bore no visible scars from his recent skirmishes, Botha replied: "I suppose I am like a crayfish—always in hot water." Excerpts from the interview:
On the right-wing defection from the party, led by Dr. Andries Treurnicht. I would not say it is really a split. It involves a number of people who are perhaps dissatisfied and have broken away. They will find that the vast majority of the party's members and supporters will not follow them. Dr. Treurnicht is what I would call a word artist. He uses words to cloud the issue. On basic matters, he has no policy. Even before I made the statement [on power sharing with some non-whites], Treurnicht was already at loggerheads with the party. The statement is an excuse they used. I think they have been organizing for quite a while to take a stand of their own.
On power sharing. I stand for the idea of a confederation of independent states, cooperating on matters like water conservation, tourism, economic development. We have come to an agreement on regional development with Transkei, Venda, Bophuthatswana and Ciskei [the already established black "homelands"]. Now then, you have the coloreds and the South African Asians. The President's Council [an appointive body established to consider constitutional change] is at present considering ways and means of enabling [these communities] to share in joint decisions, making that possible without disturbing or destroying the rights of others.
On whether coloreds and Asians will be allowed to vote. They will have to have a say in one form or another. We do not believe that a new dispensation can come about overnight. It can only come into being over a period of time, as a result of an evolutionary process.
On political change in South Africa.
You cannot have development without change, though I am not for change for change's sake. During this parliamentary session, we contemplate introducing measures to improve the local government system for black people outside the national states. On the labor front, we have made great advances.
On whether colored South Africans will some day be subject to the draft. They are coming forward more and more as volunteers. As to their say in their local affairs and in their future, they must have that say. You cannot dictate to people [by drafting them] without giving them a voice. When you institute national service, they must be able to make themselves heard.
On current U.S. policy toward South Africa. Under the [Carter Administration], things went wrong because it tried to pressure us. We were shouted at. President Reagan adopted a different attitude. He said he was prepared to talk to South Africa in a decent way, with mutual respect. We're a small but very proud nation, and we believe that this is the correct approach.