Prime Ministers Of South Africa

"Translated from Afrikaans: Die Transvaler kom met 'n roeping – hy kom om 'n volk te dien deur die geluid van troue en verhewe nasionalisme te laat weerklink waar sy stem ook reik. Uit hierdie roeping sal sy besieling spruit, dié strewe sal sy karakter bepaal."

"As Jews presently enjoy a disproportionate share of the wholesale and retail trade, such a balanced distribution can be achieved only by refusing them further trading licenses, until such a time as the other main population groups, such as English- and Afrikaans-speakers, have gained a proportion which (as far as practicable) corresponds to their percentage of the white population. … Of course, the discrimination must disappear as soon as the correct balance (ewewigtige toestand) has been achieved."

"Genl. Smuts and his followers, without any hesitation, laid all their much-celebrated quest for reconciliation and the creation of one nation of Afrikaans and English speakers on the altar of the British Empire. It is clear that their aim was not to create a truly South African people/volk, but a branch of the English people living in South Africa. And in it Afrikanerdom had to be dissolved. This war crisis was necessary to make that transparent to everyone."

"Translated from Afrikaans: Genl. Smuts en sy aanhangers het sonder enige weifeling al hul veelgeroemde strewe na versoening en die skepping van een volk uit Afrikaans- en Engelssprekendes op die altaar van die Britse Ryk gelê. Helder staan dit uit dat hul strewe nie was om 'n waarlik Suid-Afrikaanse volk te laat ontstaan nie, maar 'n vertakking van die Engelse volk woonagtig in Suid-Afrika. Daarin moes die Afrikanerdom opgelos word. Hierdie oorlogskrisis was nodig om dit vir almal glashelder te stel."

"Must Bantu and European in future develop as intermixed communities, or as communities separated from one another in so far as this is practically possible? If the reply is ‘intermingled communities’, then the following must be understood. There will be competition and conflict everywhere. So long as the points of contact are still comparatively few, as is the case now, friction and conflict will be few and less evident. The more this intermixing develops, however, the stronger the conflict will become. In such a conflict, the Europeans will, at least for a long time, hold the stronger position, and the Bantu be the defeated party in every phase of the struggle. This must cause to rise in him an increasing sense of resentment and revenge."

"The tendency in Africa for nations to become independent and, at the same time, the need to do justice to all, does not only mean being just to the black man of Africa but also being just to the white man of Africa. They are the people, not only in the Union but throughout major portions of Africa, who brought civilisation here, who made possible the present development of black nationalism by bringing the natives education, by showing them the Western way of life, by bringing to Africa industry and development, by inspiring them with the ideals which Western civilisation has developed for itself."

"This has indeed been the basis of our struggle all these years: nationalism against imperialism. This has been the struggle since 1910: a republic as opposed to the monarchical connection … We stand unequivocally and clearly for the establishment of the republic in the correct manner and at the appropriate time."

"The curriculum (to a certain extent) and the practice of teaching, ignoring the policy of segregation or apartheid, could not offer preparation for service within the black community. By simply blindly producing pupils formed on a European mould, the vain expectation was created that they, in spite of the said national policy, would still be able to fill posts in the white community. This is that is meant by the unhealthy creation of white collar ideals and the causing of widespread frustration among the so-called learned natives."

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

"The Verwoerds, Vorsters and those many others within the Broederbond-dominated hierarchy of the National Party have done incalculable harm to South Africa in sport, not to mention every other field of human endeavour or relations."

"...the policy of separate development can be tested by any unprejudiced person against the requirements of Christianity and morality, and it will be found to meet all those requirements. ... for conditions such as those in South Africa there is no other policy[, for without it] you will have chaos and ultimately bring about the downfall of all population groups here in South Africa. South Africa's problems are unique and South Africa has chosen its solution. ...we, the Whites, the Coloureds, the Asians and the Bantu, will work out our own solutions here in South Africa. ...we instituted the policy of separate development, not because we considered ourselves better than others, not because we considered ourselves richer or more educated than others. We instituted the policy of separate development because we said we were different from others. We prize that otherness and are not prepared to relinquish it. ... We have our land and we and we alone will have author­ity over it. We have our Parliament and in that Parliament we and we alone will be represented; that is why [during] this past session it was my pleasant privilege to ... abolish Coloured representation in Parliament; and it has been abolished once and for all. ... but one should also put something in its place. That is why the National Party ... for the first time [has given] the Coloureds in the Republic a Coloured Persons Representative Council in their own political area [where they] can exercise their political rights in their own way and by their own people. That is morality, that is policy, that is standpoint. ... We said you may not attend my university, but we did not leave it at that. We said we shall give you a university of your own. We said you may not attend my school but we said we shall give you a school of your own. That is morality, that is Christianity ..."

"The government will not be intimidated. Orders have been given to maintain order at all costs."

"Every day, you see a man you know committing a very serious crime for which millions of people suffer. You cannot take him to court or report him to the police because he is the law in the country. Would you remain silent and let him continue with his crime or would you do something to stop him? You are guilty not only when you commit a crime, but also when you do nothing to prevent it when you have a chance."

"I thought we were rid of one of the worst scourges we had."

"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."

"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."