Stoffel Botha

Jan Christoffel Stoffel Botha (1929-1998) was a South African politician, a member of the National Party, elected representative of Port Natal (until 1989), administrator of Natal Province (1982-1984), Minister of Home Affairs (1985-1989) in the PW Botha government.

Lawyer by profession, he began his professional career in Pretoria before starting a political career.

Elected to Natal where he owned a farm, he was named administrator of the province in province en 1982 by Pieter Botha. He was the provincial head of the national party when President Pieter Botha named him to the government in 1985 as Minister of Home Affairs. In this post, he was responsibe for censorship, and became the bête noire of opposition press, including The Weekly Mail. In 1986, he opposed proposition to power-share with the black majority, reaffirming his support for apartheid.

In 1989, when Frederik de Klerk came to power, he announced his retirement from political life, and died in 1998.