Defence ministers of South Africa

"The people who are opposing the policy of apartheid have not the courage of their convictions. They do not marry non-Europeans."

"With the with­drawal of Britain east of the Suez and the consequent vacuum caused in the Middle East, and the stocking of arsenals in some African states by Russia and China, the dangers threatening South Africa today are greater than ever before."

"It should be noted that refugees are crossing the border from southern Angola to South-West Africa – not the other way round. There is no aggression from our side."

"The United States needs a man at the helm who knows some psychology, who would know that you can't try to dictate to a people from abroad without stiffening their resistance."

"The Cubans are not in Africa out of love."

"No more mine-laying. No more murder. No more abduction of women and children. No more attacks on headmen. No more raids across the border. So long as these conditions do not exist there will be no withdrawal [from South-West Africa] of South African troops."

"I have been to Switzerland before but not to this [Paul Kruger's] house or to a Swiss bank."

"... I am not prepared to build the type of wall you built in Berlin. In South Africa we only build walls for houses."

"You could not claim for yourself that which you were not prepared to grant others."

"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."

"Many refugees – White, Brown and Black – flee to South Africa. Why? Here they know they have safety."

"Where in the whole wide world today can you find a more just society than South Africa has?"

"The fact is that the Westminster system has not worked anywhere in Africa – not even in England because the Scots and Welsh are moving away from it."

"It's a psychological onslaught, an economic one, a diplomatic one, a military onslaught – a total onslaught."

"There is not an Indian community in the world that is better off than the Indians in South Africa. That is the type of apartheid that I stand for. That is the type of apartheid that is not dead."

"Accept where I am going or I will not lead you."

"I hate no black man. I hate no brown man. The same God that made me put them there too. My God is not only for Afrikaners."

"Adapt or die."

"Mandela has overstepped the mark. He has broken the law. The judiciary of this country has put him where he belongs according to the rules of democracy."

"We do not know what tomorrow will bring. We are not prophets. This is a step in the dark. We can only proceed into the future with faith."

"The acceptance of vertical differentiation with the built-in principle of self-determination must apply on as many levels as possible."

"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."

"We are a strong country in a rather sick world. … Our problems are not so much racial as radicals wish to make them."

"I have come to the realisation and conviction that the struggle in South Africa is not between White, Black and Brown, but between Christian civilized standards and the powers of chaos."

"We do not want chaos in South Africa."

"We dare not see ourselves as a chosen people. We are called people - called to a particular task, just as every nation is a called people."

"There is only one element that can break the Afrikaner … and that is the Afrikaner himself."

"The Republic of South Africa has a new formula under the National Party's leadership: black nations can get freedom without firing shots or revolution."

"We do not force people to move to new homes, we coerce them. [Some believe he meant to say "convince"]"

"The separation of races happened long before the Nationalist Government. God separated the races."

"I am tired of constantly hearing how guilty the Afrikaner and the National Party are and the time has come that this myth be crushed."

"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."

"Lord Milner had, in the forced Peace of Vereeniging ensured that there was to be no franchise for black people after the introduction of self-government – which was never intended. It was only after half a century that an Afrikaner government started doing something about black rights."

"Knowing [Mandela] will start up with violence again, I, as a responsible head of state, must release him so that he can carry on with his violence, and then arrest him? What a nonsensical argument."

"South Africa is not a jellyfish and is in many respects a swordfish."

"Our enemies latched unto the word "apartheid" and in a very sly manner transformed it into the strongest weapon in the onslaught against freedom and civilization in our country."

"Unfortunately [South Africa] has been badly repaid for her loyalty because the West has expelled her from the family circle while befriending the most dictatorial regimes on Earth."

"Nelson Mandela can rot in prison until he dies or I die, whichever takes longer."

"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."

"No Prime Minister before me has been attacked more viciously than I am today."

"Never in the history of this country have so few people done so much for so many without acknowledgement by the international community."

"I feel more welcome among the black communities than I do among Coloureds"

"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."

"Our history is responsible for the differences in the South African way of life."

"Because you could not translate the word apartheid into the more universal language of English, the wrong connotation was given to it."

"I am sick and tired of the hollow parrot-cry of “Apartheid!” I’ve said many times that the word “Apartheid” means good neighbourliness."

"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 idea of an Afrikaner people as a cultural entity and religious group with a special language will be retained in South Africa as long as civilisation stands."

"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."

"I never have the nagging doubt of wondering whether perhaps I am wrong."

"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."

"President P.W. Botha’s notorious “Rubicon” speech on 15 August 1985 at the National Party Congress in Durban was probably one of the most significant speeches in the history of South Africa. It was supposed to break the political and military deadlock between the apartheid government and the banned liberation movements, notably the ANC. Botha was widely expected to announce new policies that could possibly have ended the political conflict in the country. However, that did not happen. Instead the speech was a total fiasco. ...the South African government and P.W. Botha were not ready for such policy breakthrough announcements and had never planned to make them."

"Uri Friedman: Why did the South African government, in the mid-1970s, decide to embark on a nuclear-weapons program?"

"[From as early as 1979, P. W. Botha], in his capacity as president of apartheid South Africa, was the real architect of the secret talks that ultimately led to De Klerk’s historic announcement in February 1990. ... Nelson Mandela started the process of persuading [[w:Kobie_Coetzee|[Kobie] Coetsee]] that the time was ripe for the government to talk to the ANC, and that he was prepared to lead the initiative in prison even before consulting Lusaka. ... Botha’s response was to ... commence secret talks with the ANC to explore possible negotiations with the enemy. ... The South African conflict had reached a stalemate [with] no possibility of victory for either side. ... It was in this toxic environment that Mandela and Botha rose to the occasion, both without a mandate. Mandela defied the ANC and engaged the enemy without a mandate because he knew that the hawks in the ANC would have stopped his initiative. Botha [authorised secret talks] without informing his Cabinet because it was too risky to do so. ... White voters still viewed the ANC as terrorists controlled by Moscow in the context of the Cold War. Reports of Botha talking to the ANC would have sunk him as leader of the National Party and president of South Africa."

"We, the so-called Bantu speaking South Africans, came from the North, from the Great Lakes, we over-ran territory here which was occupied by the Khoi and the San. There was no title, we just occupied that land, we were not even the original residents here. The people we call Baroa, the People of the South – Ba boroa, the People of the South, it’s the Khoi, the people we found here."

"The people who have now taken power in the name of the ANC are working very hard to destroy the legacy of Mandela, to destroy the constitution that we achieved. And it calls upon us now that to take a stand to say no, but we cannot accept that you destroy our constitutional order."

"Afrikaans is an African language and has the right to exist, [be] protected and defended, just like all South Africa’s official languages and cultures. We need to come together and tell those who wish to do harm on South Africans that, united, we will successfully pave a path of prosperity for all South Africans and that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black or white, Indian or coloured. And we strive to build a nation that is vibrant, successful and united. Our opponents are stuck in the past, self-entitled, and have fallen back into a routine that ensures that we as a nation do not move forward."

"We are not going to give you money [while] you’re sitting at home every day doing nothing. We must give you jobs [and] we must give you money, because when you work you develop self-respect and dignity"

"Women must take their rightful place"

"Women don’t want to be patronised, they want to be recognised for what they do.”"

"South African women are assertive and are rising to the challenge. Women all over the world are taking their rightful place."

"For me, the proof is in the pudding. I think I have earned [the South African people’s] respect"

"men and women [who will] enlist and be deployed.” Women are particularly encouraged to join the forces"

"One embarrassing thing to a man is when a woman minister asks him, ‘Why do you have to do that? Why do you need to lose everything you have invested in over the years?’ Much as I am a minister, I am also a mother"

"I let the spirit of the constitution manifest in the vision and work of my ministry."

"All South African troops going on peacekeeping missions must undergo a rigorous SEA training. There is not a single soldier who does not know what sexual exploitation and abuse is and what the consequences are,”"

"We were quite calm about it. We had been forewarned that it was going to be rougher than usual."

"Every time I am thrown into a situation, I just say to myself: ‘I now need to understand the rules of this situation endingena kuso (which I am entering into) and take it from there.’"

"Sometimes South Africa must not be scared to go back. Were we right when we outlawed [corporal] punishment for children at home and at school?"

"I am not judging because the story is still unfolding and you don’t know if there are exaggerations."

"These three contribute to violence against children and women. For me, that is something which, if ever I retire, I would want to give my life to preventing."

"I sometimes laugh when members of Parliament have a party line and you can see the difference between the mouth and the eyes. You see someone is saying something but doesn’t really believe it."

"When you do not retain people, you create a situation where there is too much competition, where it is a case of: ‘I feel I need to impress my party bosses. I must be loud and prove that I can denigrate the other parties better.’"

"More often, if it is men, they will start off by clearing their throat. Then you know that this is a party line and not a personal conviction.”"