South African lawyer, politician, and diplomat, 8th South African Ambassador to the United States (died 2018)

Pik Botha

Roelof Frederik "Pik" Botha, was a South African politician who served as the country's foreign minister in the last years of the apartheid era, the longest-serving in South African history. Known as a liberal within the party, Botha served to present a friendly, conciliatory face on the regime, while criticised internally. He was a leading contender for the leadership of the National Party upon John Vorster's resignation in 1978, but was ultimately not chosen. Staying in the government after the first non-racial general election in 1994, he served under Nelson Mandela as Minister of Mineral and Energy Affairs from 1994 to 1996.

Born

1932

April 27

Died

Living

Era

1930s

Country

—

About

Pik, in brief

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Life timeline

Key dates

1932 Born

Also on April 27

What else happened on this day, through history

247 Philip the Arab marks the millennium of Rome with a celebration of the ludi saeculares.
395 Emperor Arcadius marries Aelia Eudoxia, daughter of the Frankish general Flavius Bauto. She becomes one of the more powerful Roman empresses of Late Antiquity.
711 Islamic conquest of Hispania: Moorish troops led by Tariq ibn Ziyad land at Gibraltar to begin their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus).
1296 First War of Scottish Independence: John Balliol's Scottish army is defeated by an English army commanded by John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey at the Battle of Dunbar.

See all of April 27 →

The world in 1932

When Pik arrived

april 24 Benny Rothman leads the mass trespass of Kinder Scout, leading to substantial legal reforms in the United Kingdom.
april 5 Dominion of Newfoundland: Ten thousand rioters seize the Colonial Building leading to the end of self-government.
august 2 The positron (antiparticle of the electron) is discovered by Carl D. Anderson.
august 24 Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly across the United States non-stop (from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey).

Read the year 1932 →

Same-day contemporaries

Also born on April 27

Arielle Dombasle 1953– French-American actress and model August Wilson 1945–2005 American author and playwright (died 2005) Fethullah Gülen 1941–2024 Turkish preacher and theologian (died 2024) Frank Abagnale Jr. 1948– American security consultant and criminal Frank Catalanotto 1974– American baseball player Irving Adler 1913–2012 American mathematician, author, and academic (died 2012) Kate Pierson 1948– American singer-songwriter and bass player Lim Bo Seng 1909– Chinese businessman, resistance fighter of Force 136 and war hero of Singapore (died 1944) Mumtaz Mahal 1593–1631 Mughal empress buried at the Taj Mahal (died 1631)

See everything on April 27 →

Same-year contemporaries

Also born in 1932

Alfonso Arau 1932– Mexican actor and director Athol Fugard 1932–2025 South African-American actor, director, and playwright (died 2025) Benigno Aquino Jr. 1932–1983 Filipino journalist and politician (born 1932) Christopher Lasch 1932–1994 American historian and critic (born 1932) Derek Taylor 1932–1997 English journalist and author (died 1997) Don Valentine 1932– American venture capitalist (died 2019) Fernando Botero 1932–2023 Colombian painter and sculptor (died 2023) Francis Arinze 1932– Nigerian cardinal Hassan al-Turabi 1932–2016 Sudanese activist and politician (died 2016)

Read about the year 1932 →

Keep going

More to explore

Pik's birthday April 27 Pik's zodiac Taurus When Pik arrived 1932