Rozanne Botha

Rozanne Visagie (née Botha; 14 October 1959 – 2 October 2022) was a South African singer-songwriter, columnist and daughter of State President, P.W. Botha. She emerged as a minor celebrity figure during her father's presidency, and was referred to as the "First Daughter" in the media.

Biography

In the 1980s, Rozanne, emerged as a minor celebrity figure in the country. She released Afrikaans pop songs and appeared on the covers of magazines such as Sarie and Style, where she was dubbed "First Daughter of the Land". During this time, she became the public face of the Botha children and wrote a weekly column for the Afrikaans newspaper, Beeld. In a May 1988 speech to parliament, P.W. Botha harshly criticised "media terrorists", but said that no action would be taken against CBS. The documentary won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in a Documentary and the Edward R. Murrow Award (Overseas Press Club of America).

As a singer, she performed for South African Defence Force soldiers during the South African Border War. A single from the album, "Kan 'n Man Dan Nie" became popular and has since been covered by other Afrikaans artists. She later faced challenges in the music industry as she could not find a music distributor interested in her music.

In the 1980s she also worked for Mimosa Films as a production coordinator for the next years, creating documentary films.

In 1999, Botha's husband, Schalk Visagie, who was in charge of the PAGAD unit of the police, was shot. He suffered three bullet wounds, and the couple were visited in hospital by Nelson Mandela. At the hospital, she rebuked Mandela for the current levels of crime in South Africa. The couple had two children together, Schalk Jr. and Shanna.

Botha was deeply religious, and devoted much of her time and efforts to Evangelical Christianity, causes and outreach. She had survived two previous bouts of cancer in 2016 and 2009-2010.