Pik Botha, a reformer who was tasked with defending apartheid to the world Oct 12th, 2018 Sandisiwe Ntlemeza 886 Views JOHANNESBURG: Pik Botha, who became the global face of the apartheid government as Pretoria’s minister of foreign affairs, has died aged 86 after a lengthy illness, eNCA reported on Friday, citing his son. By turns urbane and jovial, Botha, the foreign minister from 1977 until the end of white rule in 1994, was seen as a reformer in the hard-line National Party administrations he served under. In 1986 he predicted that South Africa might one day have a black president, a statement that earned him a stern rebuke from President P.W. Botha. Article: ED STODDARD Featured, Home, Today