Birth Name: Pieter Willem Botha
Date of Birth: January 12, 1916
Place of Birth: Paul Roux, Orange Free State Province, South Africa
Date of Death: October 31, 2006
Place of Death: Wilderness, Western Cape, South Africa
Ethnicity: Afrikaner (Belgian [both Flemish and Walloon], Dutch, German, Swiss-German), remote African, Danish, English, Indian, Indonesian, and Norwegian
P. W. Botha was the leader of South Africa from 1978 to 1989, serving as the last Prime Minister from 1978 to 1984 and the first executive State President from 1984 to 1989. His father, Pieter Willem Botha, Sr., fought as a commando against the British in the Second Boer War. His mother, Hendrina Christina (de Wet), was interned in a British concentration camp during the war. He was married to Anna Elizabeth Rossouw and Barbara Robertson.
P. W.’s patrilineal ancestry can be traced back to his 8th great-grandfather, Jan Appel, of Amsterdam.
P. W.’s matrilineal ancestry can be traced back to his 7th great-grandmother, Maria Kickers (1655, Amsterdam – December 2, 1723, Stellenbosch).
A few of P. W.’s distant ancestors were slaves from Africa, India, and Indonesia.
Some research suggests that P. W. has remote Italian ancestry. It is not clear if this Italian ancestry has been documented/verified.
P. W.’s paternal grandfather was Abraham Lodewicus Botha (the son of Cornelius Frederik Botha and Cecilia Catharina Louisa Botha). Cornelius was the son of Abraham Lodewikus Botha and Helena Claudina van der Nest. Cecilia was the daughter of Josephus Johannes Botha and Martha Louisa Venter. Abraham’s great-grandfather, Theunis Botha, was the biological son of Ferdinandus Appel and Maria Kickers. He adopted the surname “Botha” from his stepfather, Friedrich Botha.
P. W.’s paternal grandmother was Anna Catharina Durandt (the daughter of Pieter Willem Durandt and Christina Petronella de Lange). P. W.’s great-grandfather Pieter was the son of Jan Jonathan Durand and Aletta Catharina Bouwer. Christina was the daughter of Barend Jacobus de Lange and Johanna Sophia Steyn.
P. W.’s maternal grandfather was Hendrik Christoffel de Wet (the son of Jacobus Ignatius de Wet and Jacoba Elizabeth Roets). Jacobus was the son of Johannes Marthinus de Wet and Catharina Magdalena Helena Opperman. Jacoba was the daughter of Nicolaas Jacobus Roets and Anna Catharina Opperman.
P. W.’s maternal grandmother was Martha Catharina Grové (the daughter of Hermanus Gerhardus Petrus Grové and Johanna Sophia van der Merwe). Hermanus was the son of Stephanus Jacobus Grové and Magdalena Elizabeth Rossouw. Johanna was the daughter of Roelof van der Merwe and Martha Catharina Potgeiter.
Source: Genealogy of P. W. Botha – http://www.geni.com