Botha, Phillipus

Identity

Person No.

29544

Old ROH no.

136

Service No.

80413552BG

Last Name

Botha 262

First Name

Phillipus

Initials

P

Date of Birth

Unknown

Est. Birth Year

1964 (±1 yr) 296

Age at Death

20

Death Record

Date of Death

17 April 1984 181

Cause code

ACC 1,585

Accident

Cause of Death

Accidentally killed 260

Accidentally killed, suffered multiple shrapnel wounds in an accidental rifle grenade explosion. While a patrol was resting on the verandah of the little church at Nehone, a member of the patrol was tampering with a captured M-60P1 Yugoslavian HEAP Pencil STRIM Rifle Grenade that exploded, killing two members instantly and wounding four others, at Nehone, Southern Angola

Military Service

Branch

Army

Rank

Corporal

Regiment

7 South African Infantry Battalion 57

Corps

South African Infantry Corps 10,341

Unit

Unknown

Defence Force

SADF 3,815

South African Defence Force

Location

Country

South Africa 23,847

Locality

Mpumalanga 425

Cemetery

LYDENBURG CEMETERY 9

Grave Reference

1B 1

Coordinates

-25.08646, 30.44579 OSM

Unit History

Attached To

102 Bn

Part of

Infantry Formation (SAAIF) — Motorised Infantry — Regular

Notes

Son of Hermanus Petrus Johannes and Lea Gertruida Botha. Brother of Marietha Moolman, of Beaufort West.

Research notes

14 Sep 2026: Pro Patria Medal added -- database-wide sweep for SADF Border War operational-area deaths within the medal's gazetted window (25 Jun 1976 - 27 Apr 2003), per the warrant's died-before-qualifying-period provision. See PersonAward.Citation for the gazette references.
14 Sep 2026: Pro Patria Medal added earlier today REVERTED -- John obtained the actual Government Gazette (GG 5171/5575); the "died before completing the qualifying period" provision relied on does not exist in the primary text (it was a secondary-source claim). Actual Rule 5 requires (a) combat/enemy-caused incident, (b) a Ministerially-acknowledged operation (clasp), or (c) 55+ continuous/90+ non-continuous days in an operational area -- none of which this record's cause of death clearly demonstrates.

Citations

Unknown

External References

SADF.info Border Roll of Honour open source ↗
SADF.info Border RoH
South African War Graves Project open source ↗
The War in Angola open source ↗
War In Angola Roll of Honour (warinangola.com, tabid=1175), pages 117-119 of 143: confirmed, no changes.

Stories

No stories have been added yet.

Dedications 6

by Marietha Moolman on 31 March 2008 · via source

My brother Phillip Botha.

on 31 March 2008 · via source

My brother Phillip Botha Marietha Moolman

by Marietha Moolman on 31 March 2008 · via source

My brother P Botha.

by Marietha Moolman on 17 April 2008 · via source

Jy was en sal altyd my boetie bly. Ek sal jou nooit vergeet.

on 24 April 2008 · via source

Phillip was by 7 SAI, het op 17 April 1984 gesneuwel. Moontlik saam met CR Dippenaar. Weet iemand dalk iets van die voorval? Onder Brig AJM Joubert by sektor 10 Oshakati. Marietha (Suster)

on 12 January 2012 · via source

Enige iemand wat inligting oor Phillip het kan my kontak by moolmankaroo@gmail.com. Die emailadres hierbo van dunedin@vod........ bestaan nie meer nie. Baie dankie. Marietha Moolman (sister)

Botha , Phillipus (P)