- Go to Inside IOL to express your feelings about the death of PW Botha.
Hein Marx, a friend of former state president PW Botha, said there had been no indication during the day that anything was amiss with him.
Botha's wife Barbara had found him dead in bed just after 8pm on Tuesday night.
"Everything basically happened quite peacefully," Marx said.
He said Botha's death was "a shock to us".
"He was very, very healthy, except two weeks ago when he felt a bit sick and a bit bad."
He said Botha's eldest daughter, Elanza Maritz, who lives in George with her doctor husband, and his son Rossouw, who lives on a smallholding in the area, were with Mrs Botha on Tuesday evening along with a NG Church minister.
He said he assumed Botha's daughter Rozanne, who lives in Cape Town, and other son, Pieter, from Pretoria would also be making their way to Wilderness.
Botha was 90. - Sapa
- Go to Inside IOL to express your feelings about the death of PW Botha.