SOUTH AFRICA: South Africa's last hardline white president, PW Botha, was embroiled in a censorship row yesterday after broadcasters refused to air his first interview in more than a decade.
The arch-defender of apartheid broke his silence in an hour-long interview, touching on Nelson Mandela, FW de Klerk and the new South Africa, which was to be broadcast to coincide with his 90th birthday last week.
However, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) did not transmit the programme, prompting accusations of political interference by the ruling African National Congress, which appoints the board.
Mr Botha, who ruled South Africa from 1978 to 1989 during violent political convulsions, has been depicted as a sullen, bitter figure who feels betrayed and alienated since apartheid ended in 1994.
An independent television company, Thuthuka Productions, interviewed him last year and said the film was due to be aired on SABC last week. However, the broadcaster said it had been shot outside its guidelines and editorial control.
Cliff Saunders, who worked at SABC when it was an apartheid mouthpiece and who conducted the interview with Mr Botha, accused his former employer of kowtowing to the ANC just as it had to the racist National Party when it was in power.
Writing in yesterday's Citizen, a Johannesburg daily, Saunders claimed government interference led the broadcaster to renege on verbal and written undertakings to show the programme.
A private broadcaster, e.tv, also declined to transmit it after being approached by Thuthuka Productions.