Botha Rebukes Likely Successor on Planned Meeting in Zambia

President Pieter W. Botha threw South Africa’s governing National Party into disarray Friday by announcing that party leader Frederik W. de Klerk, the heir apparent to the presidency, does not have his permission to meet later this month with Zambian President Kenneth D. Kaunda.

In a terse statement issued from his Cape Town office, Botha said he had no knowledge of the planned trip to Livingstone, Zambia, by De Klerk and Foreign Minister Roelof F. (Pik) Botha, and that they had not obtained the authorization required of Cabinet ministers before traveling out of the country.

Ministers Summoned

De Klerk, who also serves as minister of white education, immediately summoned Cabinet ministers to a meeting and said that “it appears that there may possibly be a misunderstanding.” He said ministers had been unable to contact Botha in Cape Town to arrange a meeting with the president to clear up the dispute.

Later, however, the state-run television announced that a meeting of the full Cabinet, including President Botha, will be held Monday to discuss the controversy.

Botha’s extraordinary rebuke of De Klerk, who is virtually certain to become president after the Sept. 6 elections, was seen by political observers as widening the gulf that has developed between Botha and the party since the 73-year-old president suffered a stroke Jan. 18, and later was effectively forced into announcing he would retire.