It has emerged that a woman who died when the vehicle she and her husband were travelling in went over a cliff on the R44, Amelia Paschke, was the daughter of late former President PW Botha.
In the accident, which occurred last Tuesday (18 January) close to Kogel Bay, the driver and two fellow passengers were rushed to hospital.
It was reported by local media, but the relationship of the 75-year-old (a passenger) to Botha, who presided over the most turbulent period of the country’s apartheid era, was established only afterwards.
She was travelling with her husband Uwe and their two grandchildren, aged 4 and 11, when their small 4×4 went over the cliff and landed in the surf. They were apparently on their way from Betty’s Bay, where they had scattered the ashes of their daughter, Sigrun (49), a composer, whose 5 January death was caused by an embolism in her lung.
Transport spokesperson Jandré Bakker said Uwe and his two grandchildren were taken to Vergelegen Mediclinic, but his wife was declared dead at the scene.
A case of culpable homicide was being investigated, and to date no funeral details have been released.