* Roelof Frederik (‘Pik’) Botha (1932–), MP (National Party), 1977–96; Minister of Foreign Affairs, South Africa, 1977–94; of Information, 1978–86; of Energy, 1994–6; Leader, Transvaal National Party, 1992–6.
† The South African government called Namibia South West Africa.
* Frederik Willem de Klerk (1936–), State President of South Africa, 1989–94; Deputy President, 1994–6; Leader of the Opposition, National Assembly of South Africa, 1996–7; winner, Nobel Peace Prize (with Nelson Mandela), 1993.
† Nelson Mandela (1918–2013), President, African National Congress, 1991–7; President of South Africa, 1994–9; anti-apartheid activist; sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, 1962; tried for further charges, 1963–4, and sentenced to life imprisonment; released, 1990; winner, Nobel Peace Prize (with F. W. de Klerk), 1993.
‡ For an account of Mandela’s interest in Mrs Thatcher’s leadership qualities, see Anthony Sampson, Mandela: The Authorised Biography, Harper Press, 2011, pp. 333, 338.
§ Shridath (‘Sonny’) Ramphal (1928–), educated King’s College London; lawyer; occupied several posts in the government of Guyana in the 1960s and 1970s, including foreign minister and attorney-general, 1972–3; Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, 1975–90; knighted, 1970.
* Helen Suzman (1917–2009), prominent anti-apartheid campaigner; joined South African Parliament, 1953; founder member, Progressive Party (later renamed the Progressive Federal Party), 1959; remained an MP until retirement in 1989.
† The figure of 800,000, widely reported at the time, was based on Home Office estimates, though there was no accurate total (some reports put it at 1 million). In May 1986 figures showed that there were more people leaving South Africa than there were entering the country as immigrants, for the first time since the Soweto riots in 1976 (Sunday Times, 11 May 1986, and The Times, 16 June 1986).
* ‘Cape Coloureds’ was the term used to describe mixed-race South Africans, so called because they were the predominant ethnic group in the Western Cape.
† At this conference, Denis’s irritation with the physical arrangements boiled over. During the leaders’ ‘retreat’ in Goa, there were constant power cuts. He emerged on the balcony of the chalet allotted to the Thatchers and bellowed: ‘This place is very high on the buggeration factor.’ (Carol Thatcher, Below the Parapet: The Biography of Denis Thatcher, HarperCollins, 1996, p. 210.) At a more elevated political level, Mrs Thatcher agreed. She was annoyed by the Commonwealth’s pretensions in issuing a ‘declaration on international security’, and wrote to Ronald Reagan: ‘It is by no means an ideal document but you should have seen the earlier versions!’ (Thatcher telegram 2018 to Reagan, 30 November 1983, Prime Minister’s Papers, Commonwealth, The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings, Part 5 (document consulted in the Cabinet Office).)
‡ While bad news for the hardliners, Mrs Thatcher’s opposition to RENAMO delighted the centrists, who made hay. ‘I never regarded RENAMO as a responsible organization,’ recalled Frank Carlucci, later President Reagan’s National Security Advisor. ‘I used Margaret’s name [with Reagan], saying, “Well, we can’t get crossed wires with Margaret Thatcher,” and that always did the trick. The last thing he wanted to do was to get crossed wires with Margaret.’ (Interview with Frank Carlucci.)
* Desmond Tutu (1931–), Archbishop of Cape Town and Metropolitan of Southern Africa, 1986–96; general secretary, South African Council of Churches, 1978–85; leading spokesman for black South Africans; winner, Nobel Peace Prize, 1984.
† Given the controversy, many years later, about whether Mrs Thatcher should have called for Mandela’s release more strongly, it is noteworthy that the anti-apartheid leaders writing to her about the Botha visit – Kaunda, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Bishop Trevor Huddleston, Tutu himself – did not raise the imprisonment of Mandela as one of their grievances.
‡ On his European tour, P. W. Botha also travelled to Bonn to meet Helmut Kohl. Kohl met him but refused to shake hands with him. (Theresa Papenfus, Pik Botha and his Times, Litera, Kindle edn (translated by Sandra Mills), 2010.)
§ Helicopters and hair were always a problem for Mrs Thatcher. Whenever she travelled in one, she had to wear the headphone link hanging beneath her chin rather than sitting on top of her head, in order not to disturb her coiffure.
* It was an irony of the sanctions debate that socialist France, though favouring sanctions, secretly provided the engines for combat aircraft sold to South Africa. Britain did not sell equivalent matériel or weapons.
† On her briefing cards Mrs Thatcher scribbled the words ‘Terrorism – Have not called on U.S. Govt. to close down IRA/Noraid offices in U.S – and IRA have vote in UK’ (‘Mr Botha’, speaking note c. 2 June 1984, CAC: THCR 1/10/154).
‡ The suggestion in Mrs Thatcher’s speaking note was that she intended to raise Mandela’s fate at the plenary session (‘Sensitive issue – but a move to free Mandela and others would be widely welcomed’), but she did not do so. She may well have hoped that Botha would be more receptive one on one than with a broader audience. Finding little give, she jotted down Botha’s excuses on the back of her speaking notes: ‘ “Nelson Mandela / ANC / Unpopular among electors / Under pressure from right / Never possible to satisfy internal opinion / Country of minorities.” ’ Her rough notes of the meeting formed the basis of Coles’s record. (Thatcher’s annotations ‘Mr Botha’, speaking note, c. 2 June 1984, CAC: THCR 1/10/154.)
* A year later, Nelson Mandela’s controversial wife, Winnie, declared that ‘With our boxes of matches and our necklaces, we shall liberate this country.’ These words contributed greatly to anxiety about the ANC. In 1985 Mrs Mandela had defied the banning order imposed by the South African government and returned to her home in Soweto. Commenting on a biography of Winnie Mandela which was published that year, Mrs Thatcher told the Rev. Canon Neville Chamberlain (who had sent her a copy), ‘One or two of the passages which I have glanced at, particularly those dealing with the banning orders imposed on Mrs. Mandela, underline the unacceptable nature of apartheid and the abuses of human rights connected with it’ (Thatcher to Chamberlain, 25 February 1986, CAC: THCR 3/2/184).
* F. W. de Klerk, the man who eventually succeeded Botha as state president, recalled feeling dismayed at the Rubicon Speech. ‘I was told that Mrs Thatcher was sitting in front of the television listening to the speech. I was one of the people who worked on what we thought we had agreed was going to be his speech. And then he threw it back at us.’ (Interview with F. W. de Klerk.)
† Tutu’s mention of Kohl as an important figure in the matter of South African sanctions was correct. West Germany had need of South African coal and was opposed to sanctions. Kohl and Mrs Thatcher, despite their other differences, were to work together quite closely on South Africa.
‡ The ‘Frontline States’ consisted of those countries bordering South Africa and Namibia – Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and (from 1980) Zimbabwe – which had banded together to co-ordinate their opposition to apartheid.
* Privately, some of the leaders of the Frontline States were quite open about their reliance on trade with South Africa. In 1986, a note passed to Mrs Thatcher from the British High Commission in Zimbabwe reported the Deputy Prime Minister saying, ‘We will never commit suicide by imposing sanctions on South Africa.’ Another local politician explained: ‘I am surprised that the British, who taught us hypocrisy, should find our attitude surprising.’ (Melhuish to Reeve, 26 August 1986, CAC: THCR 1/3/21.)
† The racist saloon-bar joke of the time was that CHOGM stood for ‘Coons Holidaying On Government Money’. This was attributed, falsely, to Denis Thatcher, but he liked the crack. (See Thatcher, Below the Parapet, p. 152.)
‡ Mrs Thatcher’s office seems to have been informed of this in more detail by the Palace on 16 October. This missive – a note and a telegram – was considered so sensitive that Nigel Wicks suggested to the Queen’s private secretary that it be kept in the
Palace archives and not in those of the Prime Minister, although today no copy survives in either repository. (See Wicks to Moore, 8 November 1985, Prime Minister’s Papers, South Africa, Relations with South Africa, Part 8 (document consulted in the Cabinet Office).)
* Robert (‘Bob’) Hawke (1929–), educated University of Western Australia and University College, Oxford; Prime Minister of Australia, 1983–91.
* Rajiv Gandhi (1944–91), educated Shiv Niketan School, New Delhi, Imperial College of Science and Technology, University of London and Trinity College, Cambridge; Prime Minister of India, 1984–9 (took office after the assassination of his mother, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi); assassinated by a suicide bomber while campaigning in the 1991 elections.
† Hawke himself described their encounter, quite generously, as ‘a vintage Thatcher performance, Margaret at her best and worst’ (Bob Hawke, The Hawke Memoirs, Heinemann, 1994, p. 321).
* The call for ‘suspension’ rather than an ‘end’ to violence was itself a concession by Mrs Thatcher. She reluctantly accepted the view of experts that the ANC would never forswear violence in principle, but might suspend it in practice.
* One fact that may have swayed Mrs Thatcher towards high-handedness was her irritation at the pretensions of Commonwealth leaders much less experienced than she. She regarded Rajiv Gandhi in particular as ‘posturing and shallow’ and believed that ‘He and Mulroney were obviously keen to cut a figure at the meeting, but did not really have the experience for their self-appointed role.’ (Powell to Acland, 21 October 1985, Prime Minister’s Papers, Commonwealth, CHOGM, The Bahamas, Part 10 (document consulted in the Cabinet Office).)
† It had at first been planned that Denis should accompany Mrs Thatcher to the CHOGM in Nassau. In the end, he did not. The meticulous government records noted who in the prime ministerial party bought what at the duty-free shop before returning to Britain. Mrs Thatcher bought a multipack of Rothman’s cigarettes for $6.50 and a bottle of gin for $4.97. Since she neither smoked nor drank gin, these must have been her present to her husband, who did both. (See ‘Prime Minister, Duty Free’, undated, Prime Minister’s Papers, PM’s Tours Abroad, CHOGM 1985, The Bahamas, Part 2 (document consulted in the Cabinet Office).)
‡ Anthony Barber (1920–2005), educated Retford Grammar School and Oriel College, Oxford; Conservative MP for Doncaster, 1951–64; for Altrincham and Sale, 1965–74; Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1970–74; chairman, Standard Chartered Bank Ltd, 1974–87; created Lord Barber, 1974.
§ Its co-chairmen were Malcolm Fraser, the former Prime Minister of Australia, and General Olusegun Obasanjo, twice Nigerian head of state.
* Van der Post said, for example, that he had been brought up by a Bushman nanny, though this was not so. He also said he had been military-political adviser to Lord Mountbatten at the end of the Second World War, but this claim, which was not true, appeared in Who’s Who only after Mountbatten was safely dead. This and other stories were controversially deconstructed by J. D. F. Jones in his authorized biography Storyteller: The Many Lives of Laurens van der Post, John Murray, 2001.
† Mangosuthu Buthelezi (1928–), Chief of the Buthelezi tribe, South Africa; founder of Inkatha Freedom Party, 1975; Leader, 1975–; Chief Minister, KwaZulu Legislative Assembly, 1976–94; Minister for Home Affairs, 1994–2004; Member, National Parliament, 1994–.
* Van der Post’s letters often began ‘Margaret dear’ and would tell her how beautiful she was, what a lovely dress she had been wearing, or how the Prince of Wales admired her: ‘Prince Charles was with us here last night and I so wish you could have been there in your old chair to hear how he and we remembered, talked about you and are closer to you than ever.’ (Van der Post to Thatcher, 30 October 1980, Prime Minister’s Papers, Prime Minister’s Meetings with Laurens Van der Post (document consulted in the Cabinet Office).)
† Other direct sources of advice to Mrs Thatcher which went against the standard Foreign Office line included George Guise, a member of her Policy Unit who specialized in science and business policy but had long experience of South Africa, Nicholas Elliott, the former MI6 man and friend of Airey Neave, Julian Amery MP, the old imperialist who had good connections with the white government and business elites, Harry Oppenheimer, the liberal South African head of Anglo American and De Beers, the gold and diamond mining giants, and her confidant Woodrow Wyatt. She also liked Ian Player, brother of the famous golfer, Gary. Player was a distinguished conservationist in southern Africa, instrumental in saving the white rhino. He helped push Mrs Thatcher in van der Post’s pro-Zulu direction. He was also a friend of Charles Powell’s wife, Carla.
‡ Pieter (‘Piet’) Koornhof (1925–2007), educated Stellenbosch and Oxford Universities; entered South African parliament in 1964; National Party Cabinet minister in various portfolios in 1970s and 1980s; South African Ambassador to the United States, 1987–91.
§ Fritz Leutwiler (1924–97), president of Swiss National Bank, 1974–84; chairman and president, Bank for International Settlements, 1982–4.
* Like Mrs Thatcher when dealing with Howe, Kohl concealed his own South African contacts from his Foreign Minister, Hans-Dietrich Genscher. In the German case, however, Genscher and Kohl led different political parties, so the lack of communication was less wounding in the German system than it was in the British.
† Julian Amery (1919–96), educated Eton and Balliol College, Oxford; Conservative MP for Preston North, 1950–66; for Brighton Pavilion, 1969–92; Minister for Housing and Construction, DOE, 1970–72; Minister of State, FCO, 1972–4; created Lord Amery, 1992.
‡ Mrs Thatcher, however, recognized that any settlement involving Buthelezi would not succeed if it fell short of meaningful reform. She told the Conservative MP Robert Jackson that this meant a ‘firm commitment to the abolition of apartheid … I suspect he realises that without such a commitment no settlement which might be negotiated would be acceptable to the majority of the black population. The hope nurtured by some Afrikaners of a political deal which effectively maintains their power with the consent of the government does not seem to me a realistic one.’ (Thatcher to Jackson, 27 February 1986, CAC: THCR 3/2/184.)
* Gorbachev was not, in fact, president of the Soviet Union until 1990. At this stage, his title was general secretary of the Communist Party.
† Oliver Tambo (1917–93), deputy president-general, ANC, 1958; led ANC’s mission in exile living in London, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, 1960–90; acting president-general, ANC, 1967–85; president, 1985–90; returned to South Africa from his exile base, 1990; national chairman, ANC, 1990–93.
* Reagan, who had domestic political problems about the South African issue, did not wish to make too much noise, but was on Mrs Thatcher’s side. ‘Through quiet support of efforts like Mrs Thatcher’s,’ wrote his National Security Advisor, John Poindexter, ‘we can seek to maintain influence without signalling a direct US role or appearing to legitimize present ANC conduct.’ (Poindexter to the President, 4 April 1986, Memo 19446, Exec Sec, NSC: System file, 8602655, Reagan Library.)
* Denis Worrall (1935–), South African Ambassador to the UK, 1984–7; founder, Independent Party (South Africa), 1987.
† On 6 June Mrs Thatcher wrote to Lord Paget of Northampton, a Labour peer who supported her position on economic sanctions, outlining the case for Mandela’s release: ‘As you know, I loathe terrorism. But the status of Nelson Mandela as a black leader is accepted on all sides and I am convinced that his release is a necessary step on the way to creating the right conditions for dialogue … I realise that Nelson Mandela has not been prepared to renounce violence as a condition for his release (that of course is not the same as declaring that he would engage in terrorist activities).’ (Thatcher to Paget, 6 June 1986, CAC: THCR 3/2/193.)
* Laurens van der Post talked up this point, telling Mrs Thatcher that ‘Mandela was not just a prisoner of the South African Government, but also the ANC.’ His Indian lawyer and Mrs Mandela, he said, were preventing him
seeing Howe ‘even though Mandela himself would wish to do so’. (Powell to Galsworthy, 8 July 1986, Prime Minister’s Papers, Relations with South Africa, Part 11 (document consulted in the Cabinet Office).)
* All such letters to Botha, originally drafted, as was customary, by the Foreign Office, were heavily rewritten by Charles Powell, usually to make them less accusatory and more persuasive in tone.
* Terence (‘Terry’) Waite (1939–), educated Wilmslow and Stockton Heath, Cheshire and Church Army College, London; adviser to Archbishop of Canterbury on Anglican Communion Affairs, 1980–92. As an envoy for the Church of England he travelled to Lebanon to try to secure the release of four hostages. He was himself taken captive and held hostage from January 1987 to November 1991.
† William Heseltine (1930–), educated University of Western Australia; press secretary to the Queen, 1968–72; private secretary, 1986–90; knighted, 1982.
* Peter Marshall (1924–), educated Tonbridge and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge; UK Representative on Economic and Social Council of UN, 1975–9; Ambassador and UK Permanent Representative to UN, 1979–83; Deputy Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, 1983–8; knighted, 1983.
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