Pik Botha

Who is Pik Botha?

Roelof Frederik "Pik" Botha is a former politician from South Africa who served as the country's foreign minister in the last years of the apartheid era. He was considered to be a liberal – at least in comparison to others in the ruling National Party and among the Afrikaner community – but the bulk of his career was spent defending South Africa's apartheid system of racial segregation against foreign criticism.

He is not related to the late P. W. Botha, the contemporary National Party politician under whom he served as South Africa's foreign minister.

Botha was nicknamed 'Pik' because of a perceived likeness to a penguin in his stance. This was accentuated when he wore a suit. He is the father of the rock musician Piet Botha. His grandson is Roelof Botha, former CFO of PayPal.