View source for Louis Botha

{{Short description|1st prime minister of South Africa from 1910 to 1919}}
{{for|the South African table tennis player|Louis Botha (table tennis)}}
{{Use South African English|date=May 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = [[General (United Kingdom)|General]] [[The Right Honourable]]
| image               = [[File:Louisbotha (cropped).jpg|220px]]
| caption             = Botha in the 1910s
| order               = 1st
| office              = Prime Minister of South Africa
| term_start          = 31 May 1910
| term_end            = 27 August 1919
| monarch             = [[George V]]
| governor-general    = {{ubl|[[Herbert Gladstone, 1st Viscount Gladstone|The Viscount Gladstone]]|[[Sydney Buxton, 1st Earl Buxton|The Viscount Buxton]]}}
| predecessor         = ''Position established''
| successor           = [[Jan Smuts]]
| constituency        = 
| office2             = [[List of governors of British South African colonies#Prime Minister of the Transvaal|Prime Minister of the Transvaal]]
| term_start2         = 4 March 1907
| term_end2           = 31 May 1910
| monarch2            = [[Edward VII]]<br>George V
| governor2           = [[William Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne|The Earl of Selborne]]
| predecessor2        = ''Position established''
| successor2          = ''Himself'' (as Prime Minister of South Africa)
| birth_date          = 27 September 1862
| birth_place         = [[Greytown, KwaZulu-Natal|Greytown]], Colony of Natal
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|1919|8|27|1862|9|27|df=yes}}
| death_place         = [[Pretoria]], Transvaal, Union of South Africa
| restingplace        = Rebecca Street Cemetery, [[Pretoria]], South Africa
| restingplacecoordinates = 
| birthname           = 
| party               = [[South African Party]]
| otherparty          = [[Het Volk (political party)|Het Volk Party]]
| spouse              = {{marriage|[[Annie Botha|Annie Emmett]]|13 December 1886}}
| relations           = 
| children            = 
| residence           = 
| alma_mater          = 
| profession          = Career military officer, politician
| signature_alt       = 
| footnotes           = <!--Military service-->
| nickname            = 
| allegiance          = South African Republic<br />Union of South Africa<br />[[Commonwealth of Nations|British Commonwealth]]
| branch              = 
| serviceyears        = 1899–1902 (Transvaal Commandos) <br /> 1902–1919 (British Imperial Armies)
| rank                = General
| unit                = 
| commands            = [[Boer]], [[South African Republic]]
| battles             = {{Tree list}}
* [[Second Boer War]]
** [[Battle of Colenso|Colenso]]
** [[Battle of Spion Kop|Spioen kop]]
* [[World War I]]
** [[South-West Africa Campaign]]
*** [[Maritz rebellion]]
{{Tree list/end}}
| awards              = 
| military_blank1     = 
| military_data1      = 
| military_blank2     = 
| military_data2      = 
| military_blank3     = 
| military_data3      = 
| military_blank4     = 
| military_data4      = 
| military_blank5     = 
| military_data5      = 
| signature           = Louis Botha sign.png
}}
'''Louis Botha''' ({{IPAc-en|local|ˈ|b|ʊər|t|ə}} {{respell|BOOR|tə}},<ref>{{Cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NnRMY6ZHVo|access-date=30 September 2024|title=Political parties condemned the defacing of the Louis Botha statue - YouTube|date=9 April 2015|time=0:05}}</ref> {{IPA|af|ˈlu.i ˈbuəta}}; 27 September 1862 – 27 August 1919) was a South African politician who was the first [[Prime Minister of South Africa|prime minister]] of the [[Union of South Africa]], the forerunner of the modern South African state. A [[Boer]] war veteran during the [[Second Boer War]], Botha eventually fought to have South Africa become a British [[Dominion]].

== Early life ==
Louis Botha was born in [[Greytown, KwaZulu-Natal|Greytown]], [[Colony of Natal|Natal]] one of seven sons and eight daughters born to Louis Botha Senior ([[Somerset East]], [[Eastern Cape]], 26 March 1827 – [[Harrismith]], [[Orange Free State]], 5 July 1883) and Salomina Adriana van Rooyen (Somerset East, 31 March 1829 – Harrismith, 9 January 1886).<ref name="geni">{{cite web |url=https://www.geni.com/people/Genl-Louis-Botha/6000000002146719211 |title=Genl. Louis Botha |last= |first= |date=2 May 2022 |website=geni.com |publisher=Geni. A MyHeritage Company |access-date=12 January 2023 |quote= |archive-date=12 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230112133819/https://www.geni.com/people/Genl-Louis-Botha/6000000002146719211 |url-status=live }}</ref> Louis Botha briefly attended the school at [[Hermannsburg, KwaZulu-Natal|Hermannsburg]] before his family relocated to the [[Orange Free State]]. The name Louis runs throughout the family, with every generation since General Louis Botha having the eldest son named Louis. Botha had three brothers who also served as generals in the Second Boer War: an older brother [[Philip Botha|Philip Rudolf]] (1851–1901), and two younger brothers, [[Chris Botha|Chris]] (1864–1902), a police officer, and Theunis Jacobus Botha (1867–1930).<ref name="geni" />

== Zulu conflict ==
Louis Botha led "[[Dinuzulu's Volunteers]]", a group of Boers that had supported [[Dinuzulu]] against [[Zibhebhu]] in 1884.

== Politician ==
Botha later became a member of the parliament of [[South African Republic|Transvaal]] in 1897, representing the district of [[Vryheid]].

== Second Boer War ==
[[File:Louis Botha - Project Gutenberg eText 16462.jpg|thumb|left|Botha during the Boer War]]

=== Early battles ===
In 1899, Louis Botha fought in the [[Second Boer War]], initially joining the [[Krugersdorp Commando]],<ref name="volkstaat" /> continuing to fight under [[Lucas Johannes Meyer|Lucas Meyer]] in Northern Natal, and later as a general commanding and leading Boer forces impressively at [[Battle of Colenso|Colenso]] and [[Battle of Spion Kop|Spion Kop]]. On the death of [[Petrus Jacobus Joubert|P. J. Joubert]], he was made commander-in-chief of the [[South African Republic|Transvaal]] [[Boers]], where he demonstrated his abilities again at [[Belfast-Dalmanutha]]. After one of the battles at the [[Tugela River]], Botha granted a twenty-four-hour armistice to [[Redvers Buller|General Buller]] to enable him to bury his dead.{{sfn|MacBride|2006|p=43. There were three battles at the Tugela River won by the Boers: [[Battle of Colenso]], [[Battle of Vaal Krantz]], and [[Battle of Spion Kop]], so one of these is intended here by author MacBride 2006}}

=== Capture of Winston Churchill ===
[[Winston Churchill]] revealed{{sfn|Churchill|1996|p=253}} that General Botha was the man who captured him at the Battle of Chieveley. {{harvnb|Coetzer|1996|p=30}} also claims that Botha captured Churchill at train ambush 15 November 1899. Churchill was not aware of the man's identity until 1902, when Botha travelled to London seeking loans to assist his country's reconstruction, and the two met at a private luncheon. The incident is also mentioned in [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]'s book, ''[[The Great Boer War]]'', published in 1902. However more recent sources claim that [[Field cornet]] [[Sarel Oosthuizen]] was in fact the Boer soldier who, at gunpoint, captured Churchill.<ref name="prominentpeople.co.za" /> Another version claims that the unit to capture Churchill was the [[Italian Volunteer Legion]] and its commander, [[Camillo Ricchiardi]].<ref name="Lupini" />

=== Later campaigns ===
After the fall of [[Pretoria]] in June 1900, Louis Botha led a concentrated [[guerrilla]] campaign against the British together with [[Koos de la Rey]] and [[Christiaan de Wet]]. The success of his measures was seen in the steady resistance offered by the Boers to the very close of the three-year war.

== Role after the Boer War ==
[[File:South Africa Act 1907 Cartoon.jpg|left|thumb|A [[Punch (magazine)|Punch]] cartoon expressing surprise at Botha's appointment as Premier of the Transvaal Colony. The cartoon states: "''SHADE OF PAUL KRUGER. "What! Botha Premier? Well, these English do 'stagger Humanity'!" In 1907 South Africa was, in effect, given back to the Dutch.''", 6 March 1907.]]
Botha was prominent in efforts to achieve a peace with the British, representing the Boers at the peace negotiations in 1902, and was signatory to the [[Treaty of Vereeniging]]. In the period of reconstruction under British rule, Botha went to Europe with de Wet and de la Rey to raise funds to enable the Boers to resume their former avocations.<ref name="NYT1902" /> Botha, who was still looked upon as the leader of the Boer people, took a prominent part in politics, advocating always measures which he considered as tending to the maintenance of peace and good order and the re-establishment of prosperity in the Transvaal. His war record made him prominent in the politics of Transvaal and he was a major player in the postwar reconstruction of that country, founding with [[Jan Smuts]] the [[Het Volk (political party)|Het Volk Party]] in the [[Transvaal Colony]] in 1904, which served as a springboard to campaign for responsible self-government for the colony.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=16 August 2019|title=Louis Botha|url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/louis-botha|access-date=19 November 2020|website=sahistory.org.za|publisher=South African History Online|archive-date=26 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170726004013/http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/louis-botha|url-status=live}}</ref>

After the grant of self-government to the Transvaal on 6 December 1906 and the success of his Het Volk Party at the [[Transvaal colonial election, 1907|first elections]] in February 1907, Botha was called upon by [[William Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne|Lord Selborne]] to [[Cabinet of Louis Botha (Transvaal Colony)|form a government]] as [[List of governors of British South African colonies#Prime Minister of the Transvaal|Prime Minister]] on 4 March 1907, and in the spring of the same year he took part in the [[1907 Imperial Conference|conference of colonial premiers]] held in London.<ref name=":0" /> During his visit to England on this occasion General Botha declared the wholehearted adhesion of the Transvaal to the [[British Empire]], and his intention to work for the welfare of the country regardless of racial differences. The following year Botha participated in the [[National Convention (South Africa)]] which opened up the way for the passage of the [[South Africa Act 1909|South Africa Act of 1909]] by the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|British parliament]] which in turn allowed for the formation of the [[Union of South Africa]].<ref name=":0" />

When South Africa obtained [[dominion]] status in 1910, Botha became the first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa. In 1911, together with another Boer war hero, [[Jan Smuts]], he formed the [[South African Party]], or SAP. Widely viewed as too conciliatory with Britain, Botha faced revolts from within his own party and opposition from [[James Barry Munnik Hertzog]]'s [[National Party (South Africa)|National Party]]. He was a [[Freemasonry in South Africa|South African Freemason]].<ref name="freemasons" /> Botha, like [[J. B. M. Hertzog|Hertzog]], advocated for the preservation of black traditions, which ultimately led to the segregation of the black and white races.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Louis Botha {{!}} South African History Online |url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/louis-botha |access-date=2024-03-10 |website=www.sahistory.org.za |archive-date=26 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170726004013/http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/louis-botha |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Later career ==
After the [[First World War]] started, he sent troops to take [[German South-West Africa]], a move unpopular among Boers, which provoked the [[Boer Revolt]].

== Praise for the British ==

At Versailles on 1 June 1919, 17 years after the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging, General Botha, now a member of the British Empire Delegation, put his hand on [[Lord Milner]]'s shoulder, and said: {{quote|Seventeen years ago, my friend and I [[Treaty of Vereeniging|made peace at Vereeniging]] – it was a bitter peace for us, bitter hard. We lost all for which we had fought – our independence, our flag, our country. But we turned our thoughts and efforts then to saving our people; and they, the victors, helped us. It was a hard peace for us to accept, but as I know it now, when time has shown us the truth, it was not unjust – it was a generous peace that the British people made with us, and that is why we stand with them today side by side in the cause which has brought us all together."<ref>Wrench, John Evelyn, ''Alfred Lord Milner'', pg. 238</ref>}}

At the end of the War he briefly led a [[British Military Mission to Poland]] during the [[Polish–Soviet War]]. He argued that the terms of the [[Versailles Treaty]] were too harsh on the [[Central Powers]], but signed the treaty. Botha was unwell for most of 1919. He was plagued by fatigue and ill health that arose from his robust waistline.{{cn|date=June 2023}}{{-}}

== Marriage and children ==
Botha married [[ Annie Botha |Annie Emmett ]] at the Dutch Reformed Church in [[ Vryheid ]] on 13 December 1886.<ref name= louis2>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L8jnDwAAQBAJ&dq=annie+botha+anglican+wedding&pg=PT31|title=Louis Botha: A Man Apart|first=Richard|last=Steyn|date=17 September 2018|publisher=Jonathan Ball Publishers|isbn=978-1-86842-923-3|via=Google Books}}</ref>  Annie Botha later converted from Anglicanism to Dutch Reformed Protestantism.<ref name= louis2>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L8jnDwAAQBAJ&dq=annie+botha+anglican+wedding&pg=PT31|title=Louis Botha: A Man Apart|first=Richard|last=Steyn|date=17 September 2018|publisher=Jonathan Ball Publishers|isbn=978-1-86842-923-3|via=Google Books}}</ref>  Shortly after their wedding, they settled on the Waterval Farm in Vryheid. They had five children together, three sons and two daughters.

== Death ==
[[File:At Cape Town (MP) 2018 033.jpg|thumb|Statue in Cape Town by Romano Romanelli]]
General Louis Botha died of [[heart failure]] at his home following an attack of [[Spanish flu|Spanish influenza]] on 27 August 1919 in the early hours of the morning. He was 56. His wife [[Annie Botha|Annie]] was at home and was joined by Engelenburg who had acted as a private secretary to Botha.{{sfn|Engelenburg|1928|p=355}}{{sfn|Meintjes|1970|p=302}} Botha was laid to rest in the Rebecca Street Cemetery in Pretoria.

Of Botha, Winston Churchill wrote in ''Great Contemporaries'' "The three most famous generals I have known in my life won no great battles over a foreign foe. Yet their names, which all begin with a 'B', are household words. They are [[William Booth|General Booth]], General Botha and [[Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell|General Baden-Powell]]..."{{sfn|Churchill|1948|p=287}}

After Botha's death in 1919, Annie Botha settled on a farm in Rusthof and spent winters in Sezela, where she died in 1937.

== Honours ==
Sculptor [[Raffaello Romanelli]] won the competition to create the equestrian statue of Botha that stands in front of the [[South African Parliament]] building but died before completing it. His son [[Romano Romanelli]], and his grandson's family Arend Botha was contracted to finish his father's work.

In 1917, parts of the [[M11 (Johannesburg)|M11 route]] in [[Johannesburg]], previously named Morgan Road and Pretoria Main Road,<ref name="SAJR012">{{cite web |title=Louis Botha Avenue Development Corridor |url=http://www.sajr.co.za/docs/default-source/pdf/2016-pdf-docs/louis-botha-final-sajr.pdf?sfvrsn=2 |accessdate=25 September 2017 |work=City of Johannesburg |publisher=SAJR}}</ref>{{rp|39}}were renamed to [[Louis Botha Avenue]].<ref name="OGP01">{{Cite web |date=19 February 2017 |title=Orange Grove Precinct. Heritage Impact Assessment & Conservation Management Plan. Report Phase 3. Volume 1 |url=http://www.theheritageportal.co.za/sites/default/files/notice%20attachments/HIA%20%26%20CMP_Orange%20Grove%20Precinct_Vol1.pdf |publisher=Johannesburg Development Agency |publication-date=16 May 2016}}</ref>{{rp|30}}

Sculptor [[Anton van Wouw]] created a statue of Botha in Durban unveiled in 1921.

Sculptor Coert Steynberg was commissioned to create the equestrian statue of Botha in front of the [[Union Buildings]] in Pretoria. It was unveiled in 1946.

The [[General Botha Regiment]] of the [[South African Army]] is named after Botha.<ref>{{Cite web|date=17 June 2010|title=Fact file: Regiment Botha|url=https://www.defenceweb.co.za/resources/fact-files/fact-file-regiment-botha/|access-date=27 August 2021|website=defenceWeb|language=en-ZA|archive-date=27 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210827102908/https://www.defenceweb.co.za/resources/fact-files/fact-file-regiment-botha/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Renaming process has resulted in an Army structure that truly represents SA|url=https://www.iol.co.za/news/opinion/renaming-process-has-resulted-in-an-army-structure-that-truly-represents-sa-30856190|access-date=27 August 2021|website=www.iol.co.za|language=en|archive-date=24 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220524040638/https://www.iol.co.za/news/opinion/renaming-process-has-resulted-in-an-army-structure-that-truly-represents-sa-30856190|url-status=live}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist|refs=

<ref name="prominentpeople.co.za">{{Cite web | title = Churchill, Sir Winston | work = Prominent people | date = 14 July 2013 | access-date = 3 October 2016 | url = http://prominentpeople.co.za/churchill-sir-winston-hamilton.aspx | archive-date = 16 October 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161016221846/http://prominentpeople.co.za/churchill-sir-winston-hamilton.aspx | url-status = live }}</ref>

<ref name="Lupini">{{cite web|last1=Lupini|first1=Mario|title=Italian participation in the Anglo-Boer War|url=http://samilitaryhistory.org/lectures/italyabw.html|work=The South African Military History Society|access-date=17 February 2015|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303175552/http://samilitaryhistory.org/lectures/italyabw.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

<ref name="NYT1902">{{Cite news | title = Boer Leaders Coming Here: Botha and De la Rey to Visit America | newspaper = The New York Times | page = 3 | date = 30 July 1902 | url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1902/07/30/118474314.pdf | access-date = 13 June 2018 | archive-date = 27 February 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210227060502/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1902/07/30/118474314.pdf | url-status = live }}</ref>

<ref name="volkstaat">{{Cite web|url=http://www.volkstaat.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=552:italian-volunteer-legion-the-english-war-1899-1902-piet-rudolph&catid=56:latest&Itemid=82|title=Italian Volunteer Legion (The English War 1899–1902) – Piet Rudolph|website=volkstaat.net|language=en-gb|access-date=17 October 2018|archive-date=17 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181017203033/http://www.volkstaat.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=552:italian-volunteer-legion-the-english-war-1899-1902-piet-rudolph&catid=56:latest&Itemid=82|url-status=live}}</ref>

<ref name="freemasons">{{cite web|url=http://www.freemasons.org.za/NOTABLE%20SOUTH%20AFRICAN%20FREEMASONS.pdf|title=Notable South African Freemasons|publisher=Freemasons.org.za|access-date=13 September 2018|archive-date=20 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180920175628/http://www.freemasons.org.za/NOTABLE%20SOUTH%20AFRICAN%20FREEMASONS.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

}}

== Sources ==

{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book|last=Churchill|first=Winston |author-link=Winston Churchill|title=Great Contemporaries|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=meUDjwEACAAJ|orig-year=1937|year=1948|publisher=Odhams|location=London|isbn=9781931313704 }}
* {{cite book|last=Churchill|first=Winston |author-link=Winston Churchill|title=My Early Life: 1874–1904|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ChUVxfQY1JkC|year=1996|publisher=Scribner|isbn=978-0-684-82345-4}}
* {{cite book|last=Coetzer|first=Owen |title=The Anglo-Boer War: The road to Infamy, 1899–1900|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UPwvAQAAIAAJ|year=1996|publisher=W. Waterman|isbn=978-1-874959-10-6}}
* {{cite book|last=Engelenburg|first=Frans Vredenrijk |title=General Louis Botha|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NHchAAAAMAAJ|year=1928|publisher=J.L. Van Schaik}}
* {{cite book|last=MacBride|first=John |editor-first=Anthony J. |editor-last=Jordan|title=Boer War to Easter Rising: The Writings of John MacBride|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vOZQAAAACAAJ|year=2006|publisher=Westport|isbn=978-0-9524447-6-3}}
* {{cite book|last=Meintjes|first=Johannes |author-link=Johannes Meintjes|title=General Louis Botha: a biography|url=https://archive.org/details/generallouisboth1970mein|url-access=registration|year=1970|publisher=[[Cassell (publisher)|Cassell]]|isbn=9780304935017 }}
{{refend}}
* {{Wikisource-inline|list=
* [[s:Peace of Vereeniging|Peace of Vereeniging]]
* {{Cite EB1922|wstitle=Botha, Louis|short=x |noicon=x}}
* Wrench, John Evelyn, ''Alfred Lord Milner'', Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, 1958, pg. 238. OCLC Number: 1630758}}

== Further reading ==
{{Commons category|Louis Botha}}

=== Biographical ===
* {{cite book |last=Spender |first=Harold |date=1916 |title=General Botha, The Career and the Man |location=London |publisher=Constable |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dxw1AQAAIAAJ}}

=== Historical ===
* {{cite book|last1=Farwell|first1=Bryon|title=The Great Boer War|publisher=Allen Lane|location=London|year=1976}} (insights of Botha)
* {{cite book|last1=Williams|first1=Basil|author-link = Basil Williams (historian)|title=Botha Smuts and South Africa|url=https://archive.org/details/bothasmutssoutha00willuoft|publisher=Hodder and Stoughton|location=London|year=1946}} (comprehensive commentaries on Smuts and Botha, or as William's titled them in the last chapter of this book ''par nobile fratrum''{{Rp|203}}
* {{cite book|last= C.J.Barnard |date= 1970 |title= Generaal Louis Botha Op Die Natalse Front 1899–1900|location= Cape Town |publisher= [[A.A. Balkema]] }}

=== Fiction ===
*{{cite book|last1=O'Brien|first1=Antony|title=Bye-Bye Dolly Gray|publisher=Artillery Publishing| location=Hartwell| year=2006|isbn=978-0-9758013-2-1| edition=illustrated|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PDdDAAAACAAJ}} (a heroic Boer character in this Australian/Boer War novel)

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{PM20|FID=pe/002247}}
* Anne Samson: [https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/botha_louis/ Botha, Louis], in: [https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/home.html/ 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War].

{{s-start}}
{{s-gov}}
{{s-new|Responsible government}}
{{s-ttl|title=Member of Parliament for [[Standerton]]|years=1907–1910}}
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{{s-ttl|title=Minister for Agriculture|years=1907–1910}}
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{{s-ttl|title=Member of Parliament for [[Losberg]]|years=1910–1919}}
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{{s-new}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Prime Minister of South Africa]]|years=1910–1919}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Jan Smuts]]}}
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{{s-ttl|title=[[Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (South Africa)|Minister of Agriculture]]|years=1910–1912}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Jacobus Wilhelmus Sauer|J. W. Sauer]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Jacobus Wilhelmus Sauer|J. W. Sauer]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (South Africa)|Minister of Agriculture]]|years=1912–1913}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Harry van Heerden]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Jacobus Wilhelmus Sauer|J. W. Sauer]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Minister of Bantu Administration and Development, and Bantu Education|Minister of Native Affairs]]|years=1913–1919}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Jan Smuts]]}}
|-
{{s-ppo}}
{{s-new}}
{{s-ttl|title=Leader of the [[Het Volk (political party)|Het Volk]] Party
|years=1904–1911}}
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|-
{{s-new}}
{{s-ttl|title=Leader of the [[South African Party]]
|years=1910–1919}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Jan Smuts]]}}
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{{s-end}}

{{SAPremiers}}
{{Government of Transvaal}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Botha, Louis}}
[[Category:1862 births]]
[[Category:1919 deaths]]
[[Category:Afrikaner people]]
[[Category:Prime ministers of South Africa]]
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[[Category:South African Republic generals]]
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[[Category:Deaths from the Spanish flu pandemic]]
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[[Category:People from Greytown, KwaZulu-Natal]]
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