South Africa's last hardline white president PW Botha dies

South Africa’s last hardline white president, PW Botha, has died. He was 90.

Security staff at his home on the southern Cape coast said he died at 8pm (6pm Irish time).

Captain Frikkie Lucas said: “Botha died at home, peacefully.”

PW Botha led the country through its worst racial violence and deepest international isolation.

Known for his finger-wagging, confrontational style and nicknamed the ``Old Crocodile'' for his feared temper, Botha served as head of the white racist government from 1978 to 1989.

Throughout his leadership he resisted mounting pressure to release South Africa’s most famous political prisoner, Nelson Mandela, who was freed by Botha’s successor, FW de Klerk, in 1990.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a panel set up by Mandela’s government to probe abuses, concluded in 1998 that Botha was guilty of gross human rights violations by ordering killings and bombings.

But his failing health helped him escape prosecution and he spent his final years in seclusion in a seaside resort rather than in jail. He died tonight.