Cornelius "Con" Botha (18 September 1932 – 6 February 2014) was a South African politician and the last administrator of the

Natal Province The Province of Natal (), commonly called Natal, was a province of South Africa from May 1910 until May 1994. Its capital was Pietermaritzburg. During this period rural areas inhabited by the black African population of Natal were organised int ...

. Born in

Upington Upington () is a town founded in 1873 and located in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, on the banks of the Orange River. The town was originally called Olijvenhoutsdrift ('Olive wood drift'), due to the abundance of olive wood trees i ...

in the

Northern Cape The Northern Cape ( ; ; ) is the largest and most sparsely populated Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley, South Africa, Kimberley. It includes ...

, Botha grew up in

Parys Parys (pronounced ) is a resort town in northern Free State province, South Africa. It is situated on the southern bank of the Vaal River. The name is the Afrikaans translation of Paris. The origin of the name 'Parys' is attributed to German su ...

in the Free State province. He graduated from

Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch University (SU) (, ) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant university in Sub-Sahara ...

with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He became a member of the former

National Party National Party or Nationalist Party may refer to: Active parties * National Party of Australia, commonly known as ''The Nationals'' * Bangladesh: ** Bangladesh Nationalist Party ** Jatiya Party (Ershad) a.k.a. ''National Party (Ershad)'' * Californ ...

and held the

Umlazi Umlazi is a township in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, located south-west of Durban. Organisationally and administratively it forms part of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality and its South Municipal Planning Region. It is the fourth largest ...

constituency until 1990, when he was appointed administrator of its province. The position was dissolved in 1994 with the province's redesignation into

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

following re-incorporation of the

KwaZulu KwaZulu was a semi-independent Bantustan in South Africa, intended by the apartheid government as a homeland for the Zulu people. The capital was moved from Nongoma to Ulundi in 1980. It was led until its abolition in 1994 by Chief Mangos ...

bantustan A Bantustan (also known as a Bantu peoples, Bantu homeland, a Black people, black homeland, a Khoisan, black state or simply known as a homeland; ) was a territory that the National Party (South Africa), National Party administration of the ...

. He was briefly a member of the

Democratic Party (South Africa) The Democratic Party (DP; ) was a South African political party that was the forerunner of the Democratic Alliance. Although the Democratic Party name dates from 1989, the party existed under other labels throughout the apartheid years, when it ...

. In 2009, Botha's wife Leonore died. In 2014, he was admitted to a hospital for

gastroenteritis Gastroenteritis, also known as infectious diarrhea, is an inflammation of the Human gastrointestinal tract, gastrointestinal tract including the stomach and intestine. Symptoms may include diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Fever, lack of ...

. Botha's condition worsened and he died from heart failure at the age of 81 in February 2014. He and Leonore were survived by two daughters.

References

1932 births 2014 deaths People from Upington Afrikaner people South African people of German descent National Party (South Africa) politicians Democratic Party (South Africa) politicians Stellenbosch University alumni Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 1994–1999 {{KwaZuluNatal-politician-stub