October 31, 2006 4:38PM 

# The Great Crocodile Dies 

By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) 

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P. W. Botha, who was prime minister of South Africa as the struggle against apartheid reached its climax, [has died at ](http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2431687,00.html)90. In 1988, I attended a conference organized by South African libertarians in neighboring Swaziland. When I arrived at the conference and approached the registration table, the first thing I saw was a stack of bumper stickers reading “I ♥ PW.” I was appalled — libertarians proclaiming their support for the boss of the apartheid state?

Then I got closer and realized it wasn’t a heart, it was a tomato, as in “I

![Media Name: tomato2.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/download-remote-images/www.cato.org/172395922072/tomato2.jpg?itok=wc3AyX-G) 

PW.” Why a tomato? My hosts explained to me that the bumper sticker expressed solidarity with a protester who had thrown a tomato at the State President. Well, that’s better, I thought.

Botha was pushed out of power soon after that by F. W. de Klerk, who freed Nelson Mandela from jail and negotiated the end of apartheid.

##### Related Tags 

[Defense and Foreign Policy](https://www.cato.org/defense-foreign-policy), [General](https://www.cato.org/general) 

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