Apartheid-era foreign affairs minister Pik Botha has been admitted to hospital
His wife, Ina, told Beeld newspaper that he had heart problems and was in Akasia clinic in Pretoria North.
He underwent a heart sonar and was given oxygen after he struggled to breathe at night while the couple was on holiday, she said.
Botha was expected to be transferred to Unitas hospital in the next few days for treatment by a cardiologist.
He served as foreign affairs minister in the last years of the apartheid government and served as minister of mineral and energy affairs under Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first democratically elected president.
Botha retired from politics in 1996 when the National Party withdrew from the government of national unity.
In 2000, he announced that he would join the African National Congress.