Former state president PW Botha is going on trial in South Africa to face contempt charges.

Botha: "Commission is a circus"

The charges were brought after he repeatedly refused to testify before the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The commission is a statutory body which was established to investigate crimes committed during the apartheid era.

It has the force of law to compel witnesses to appear before it.

Mr Botha, 82, who has branded the commission a circus and a witch-hunt against white Afrikaners, has repeatedly refused to appear. On one occasion he claimed to be too sick.

Mr Botha's empty commission chair

But according to a BBC correspondent, he will attend court to face the criminal contempt charge.

If he is found guilty, he could face a two year prison sentence or a fine or both.

"I'm sad that it had to come to this because we have been accommodating to a fault," said Archbishop Desmond Tutu, chairman of the commission.

Tutu: "We have tried to be gentle"

"We bent over backwards in trying to ensure that we treated him as gently as possible."

But Mr Botha was sticking to his views. "I've made my statements about the Truth Commission.

"I've made several statements about them. Why should I repeat it?" he told reporters.

The commission believes Mr Botha has crucial evidence about crimes committed during his period in power.

Political commentator Max Du Preez said: "PW Botha is virtually the whole reason why we have a Truth Commission.

"Ninety-nine percent of the cases before the Truth Commission come out of his period of power. So it's unthinkable to have a Truth Commission and not have him appear."

The George museum: a shrine to Botha

Hundreds of supporters and anti-Botha demonstrators are expected to lobby the trial in the town of George.

The town has a museum in Mr Botha's honour detailing his career.

The move to prosecute follows a request for action by the commission's chairman, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, after the former president ignored three summonses.

The commission is investigating alleged abuses by both sides during the apartheid era.

It wants to question Mr Botha about the killings of black activists and the workings of the now-defunct state security council, which he headed.

Mr Botha led South Africa's white minority regime from 1978 as premier and six years later as the republic's first executive president, until he yielded power in 1989 to F W de Klerk.

He had introduced draconian emergency laws three years earlier to clamp down on growing black unrest.

Tens of thousands were detained without charge and thousands of blacks died in clashes with police and soldiers.

But Mr Botha, who has lived in quiet retirement at Wilderness, on the Cape coast, says he is proud of his fight to preserve white rule, which he saw as a crusade against communism.
 

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