P.W. Botha becomes Prime Minister

Following the sudden resignation by Prime Minister B.J. Vorster, the National Party caucus elected Pieter Willem Botha, the Minister of Defence and leader of the National Party in the Cape Province as new Prime Minister and Party leader. His elevation to the new position was boosted by the qualities that he earned as a Minister of Defence and the well publicised Information Scandal that had rocked the Department of Information. The scandal in the department compromised the reputation of its minister, Connie Mulder, who was also contending for the position. In a series of speeches as Prime Minister, Botha seemed to try to direct the country onto reformist paths and away from the racial "apartheid" (separation), which had been an article of faith for the National Party (NP) since 1948. The new prime minister told his fellow Whites that they would have to "adapt or die." The right wing elements in the NP, especially in the Transvaal, resisted Botha's suggestion and for some years the ensuing struggle over policy within the governing party seemed to neutralise Botha's reformist intentions. Subsequently, in 1982 the right wing element broke away to form the Conservative Party. This move shifted the political balance in favour of "reformism" among remaining Nationalists. One result of this was the new tricameral South African Constitution of 1983, which continued to exclude all South African Blacks (72% of the total population) from any participation whatsoever in the central institutions of the state, but included Coloureds and Indians, though in separate Houses.