The man who was the longest-serving  foreign minister in the world died a month ago.

Roelof Pik Botha nearly lost his job for being the first member of President P.W. Botha’s apartheid cabinet to say he was prepared to serve under a black president.

Erstwhile colleague Barend du Plessis told more than 200 family members, diplomats and foreign service officials past and present at the memorial service that Botha was misunderstood by both sides

(Take in the Barend clip here)

Du Plessis says Botha combined a disarming humility with persistence and perseverance making him one of the best known South African public figures of the modern era.

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