JOHANNESBURG, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Former South African state president P.W Botha passed away at the age of 90 on Tuesday night.

    Botha died just after 8 p.m. on Tuesday night at his home Die Anker near Wildernes in the Western Cape, according to South African Press Association.

    Botha duly became state president in September 1984. By the early 21st Century Pieter Willem (P.W) Botha's name had become a byword for unaccountable government and the autocratic exercise of power.

    He was the archetype "kragdadige" Afrikaner and a worthy successor to John Vorster, whom he replaced as prime minister in the wake of the Information scandal in late 1978.

    A career politician, he then retired, a bitter man, to the appropriately named The Wilderness, a resort town outside George along the southern Cape coast.

    Botha was born on January 12, 1916 on the farm "Telegraaf" near Paul Roux in the then-Orange Free State.