How did P.W. Botha’s government destabilize neighboring countries?

During his tenure as prime minister of South Africa, P.W. Botha employed military and economic strategies to destabilize neighboring countries in an effort to maintain white minority rule and suppress opposition to apartheid.12

His government’s destabilization efforts included:

• Military Incursions: The South African Defense Force (SADF) conducted preemptive raids into Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe to target African National Congress (ANC) bases and their allies.12
• Support for Insurgencies: South Africa provided covert military and financial support to brutal rebel groups, specifically UNITA in Angola and Renamo in Mozambique. These groups were armed to attack infrastructure, including schools, clinics, railways, and harbors, effectively undermining the stability of these nations.312
• Economic Pressure: South Africa leveraged its economic dominance in the region to pressure its neighbors, including cutting back on migrant labor recruitment and utilizing its ports for regional trade to maintain leverage over countries that supported anti-apartheid movements.31

These actions were part of a broader policy to destroy ANC resistance and prevent neighboring states from successfully pursuing anti-apartheid policies.12