Career
Born in Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa, Botha was an avid sports car and endurance racer. His first car was a South African built Dart with a 1500cc Ford engine with a Cosworth camshaft. The car was in an accident later in the year as the rear suspension failed on the Jukskei sweep at Kyalami.
In the latter half of 1966, he bought an Elva MK VII and a 1760cc engine from a Porsche RS5 Spider.
These two were combined to create an Elva Mk VII-Porsche RS. Later in a nine-hour endurance race at Kyalami the gearbox failed, but not before setting a fastest lap in his class of 1:34:50 for the old circuit. Botha later commented that it was his most enjoyable racing experience.
His move to Formula One came in the form of a Brabham BT11 with a Climax 2000cc engine. On his first outing with the new car he came second (November 1966).
He took part in the South African series races the following year until July.
He also competed in that year"s South African Grand Prix, part of the Formula One World Championship. After 38 laps he had a mechanical problem that was resolved with the help of a spectator and continued to finish the race with 60 laps to his cartulary-register He was not classified at the finish.
During a race at Lourenço Marques, now Maputo, in Mozambique, he crashed heavily as a run-off area was swamped by the crowd.
The crash claimed the lives of nine spectators and injured 17. After the crash, he did get back into the seat of a racing car, but felt that the spark was no longer there and stopped.
He continued his work in civil engineering and assisted with some of the civil engineering work in Soweto. Later he continued his love of South Africa by farming in the KZN-Midlands before moving to East London to fill a post as an engineer
A number of years later he moved his family back to his birth town of Pretoria where he later was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of the Tswane Metropolitan Council.