SOUTH AFRICA IN MOURNING
CAPE TOWN, THURSDAY.
The passing away of General Botha in the very midst of his triumphant welcome home from the signing of the Peace Treaty has come as a shock to the whole country, as the death of South Africa’s greatest statesman and general was absolutely unexpected. When welcoming Mr. Hughes, the Australian Prime Minister, at Cape Town Docks, shortly after his own arrival, General Botha spontaneously remarked he had never felt better, and he subsequently declared at Pretoria that his health having improved during his absence in Europe, he was ready to carry on the Premiership as long as the country required him.
The first news of his indisposition was to the effect that he had contracted a chill on his Transvaal farm, which resulted in an attack of influenza. On returning to Pretoria last Monday he complained about his throat, and it was found he had a slight temperature. He was put to bed, and subsequent bulletins, though announcing the cancellation of appointments, occasioned no alarm. On the last day, however, six doctors were in attendance, and at eight o’clock in the evening the Premier’s condition suddenly became critical, and he passed away peacefully from heart failure. Mrs. Botha and Captain Louis Botha were at the bedside, and other relatives were telegraphed for, but were unable to arrive in time. The funeral will take place at Pretoria on Saturday.
South Africa to-day mourns with a sense of poignant personal grief her son, her soldier statesman, whose name will ever live in South Africa as the “Chevalier sans peur et sans reproche.” There has been no such public sorrow since the death of Cecil Rhodes. Outward signs of mourning are everywhere, and all flags are at halfmast. Ever since a little more than a month ago, when General Botha landed at Cape Town, signs of affection had everywhere been showered upon him. He visited Pretoria, Johannesburg, Bloemfontein, and other centres, always receiving the same enthusiastic popular welcome. General Botha made a number of vigorous speeches, displaying strong leadership on Union questions, as well as on the Peace Treaty and the League of Nations. He was well supported by General Smuts, who for the past two days has been receiving a brilliant welcome in Natal, where General Botha was to have accompanied him. The Prime Minister was always bright and hearty, taking great delight in outdoor functions. He attended the “All Blacks’” matches, even in chilly weather.
Now the country is plunged in mourning, when all eyes were fixed on General Botha’s and General Smuts’s efforts to build up a greater South Africa which would include South West Africa and probably other territory. A well-known South African statesman paid a high tribute to the deceased Prime Minister, and laid emphasis on Genera Botha’s greatness in dealing with natives. He said that the natives had suffered an irreparable loss by his death.
It is understood that the constitutional position requires the formation of a new Ministry, but at present it is not thought likely that the forthcoming session of Parliament will be postponed.
The morning papers were just able to publish the Reuter announcement of the tragic suddenness of the death and very brief tributes, which unite in deploring the loss to the Empire, “even to the world,” and are agreed that seldom in history has the loss of one man meant so much.
The Cape Times eulogises General Botha’s chivalry, good faith, honest, upright dealing and sound political common-sense, and says: “His death will be a deep, abiding sorrow to the country, which has lost a true patriot, endowed with gifts such as Abraham Lincoln possessed. Providence has willed that he shall pass away at the beginning of the new era, when there was fervent hope he would lead the country out of the quagmires of discord and disharmony to the brilliant sunlit fields ahead.” – Reuter.