Former South African president FW de Klerk dies aged 85
South Africa's last white leader FW de Klerk – a key figure in helping the country move towards democracy and who freed anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela from prison – has passed away at the age of 85.
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"Former president FW de Klerk died peacefully at his home in Fresnaye [Cape Town] earlier this morning following his struggle against mesothelioma cancer," the FW de Klerk Foundation said in a statement on Thursday.
As leader of the National Party that implemented apartheid, de Klerk headed South Africa's white minority government from 1989 to 1994.
But he came to support multiracial democracy and helped to dismantle the systemic division of white and black people by engineering Mandela’s release from prison after 27 years.
In a famous speech on 2 February, 1990, de Klerk announced Mandela would walk free from Cape Town’s Victor Verster Prison, where he had spent the previous nine years.
De Klerk also announced the lifting of a ban on the African National Congress (ANC) and other liberation movements.
In an interview with RFI in 2010, de Klerk recalled how “the gasps really came when I announced the un-banning not only of the ANC, but also the South African Communist party and all affiliated organisations – which included the armed wing of the ANC”.
In 1993, he and Nelson Mandela shared the Nobel Peace Prize for leading the “miracle” transition from white rule over the country.
The joint prize had played an “important and inspirational role” in South Africa “to complete what we had started” de Klerk recalled.
He also praised the Nobel committee’s decision in recognising the role that white people played in averting a catastrophe in South Africa by voting in favour of a referendum to accept political change.
When the ANC won multi-party elections in 1994, bringing Mandela to power, de Klerk then served as one of two deputy presidents.
Controversial figure
De Klerk’s role in the transition to democracy has, however, long been contested. In recent years he endured harsh criticism for failing to account for the violence that underpinned apartheid.
He’d also been called to testify in several cases seeking answers for past atrocities.
De Klerk sparked fury last year when he denied that apartheid was a crime against humanity, despite the UN declaring it as such.
“The idea that apartheid was a crime against humanity was and remains an agitprop project initiated by the Soviets and their ANC/SACP allies to stigmatise white South Africans by associating them with genuine crimes against humanity,” de Klerk said on national television in February.
He was sharply rebuked by President Cyril Ramaphosa who said de Klerk’s denial of racial segregation was tantamount to treason. De Klerk went on to apologise for “quibbling” over the issue.
‘Big, uneven legacy’
Reacting to news of de Klerk’s death, Ramaphosa acknowledged the former leader’s vital role in the transition to democracy in the 1990s.
"He took the courageous decision to unban political parties, release political prisoners and enter into negotiations with the liberation movement amid severe pressure to the contrary from many in his political constituency," Ramaphosa said in a statement.
For the Nelson Mandela Foundation: “De Klerk’s legacy is a big one. It is also an uneven one, something South Africans are called to reckon with in this moment."
The office of one of the harshest critics of apartheid, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, said: "The former president occupied an historic but difficult space in South Africa."
When in 1997 de Klerk appeared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission – which uncovered the atrocities of the white-minority regime – Tutu expressed disappointment that the former president had not made a “more wholesome apology on behalf of the National Party to the nation for the evils of apartheid”.
Julius Malema, the 40-year-old leader of the leftist Economic Freedom Fighters, was less diplomatic. "Thank you God," he tweeted, followed by five dancing emojis.
But opposition Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen said: "Rather than dividing our country, may his passing and his memory make us even more determined to work towards a united South Africa."
De Klerk’s contribution to South Africa's transition to democracy "cannot be overstated" Steenhuisen added.
His predecessor, Tony Leon, likened de Klerk to former Russian president Mikhail Gorbachev, who also helped usher in democracy.
Had de Klerk "not relinquished power in 1994, likely SA would be Syria or Venezuela today," Leon tweeted.
Justice for all
De Klerk admitted there were pragmatic reasons why the apartheid system had to end, including “the need to end the violence, growing economic sanctions and marginalisation”.
But he maintained his ultimate guide had been the principle of justice for all.
“My guiding force was that only through justice for all can my people have justice,” he told RFI. “I can honestly say that played a much more important role than the pragmatic reasons why in any event we had to change.”
De Klerk is survived by his wife Elita, his children Jan and Susan, and his grandchildren.
His foundation said that the family would announce funeral arrangements in due course.
- Listen to FW de Klerk in an RFI interview from February 2010 : Justice for all: FW de Klerk
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