De Klerk: South Africa’s President Who Quashed Apartheid, Dies at 85

Frederik Willem de Klerk died on November 11, 2021 in Cape Town, South Africa. He was born on March 18, 1936, in Johannesburg.

According to nobelprize.org, in 1990, as then-South Africa’s president, de Klerk decided to release Nelson Mandela, leader of the liberation movement, who had been in prison since 1963. Following the release, the two politicians worked together to end the policy of racial segregation. For his participation in this peace process, de Klerk was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

When de Klerk took office as president in 1989, no one expected him to play a key part in the termination of apartheid. As a lawyer, as a parliamentarian, and as a member of the government, he had stood out as a firm upholder of white privilege. But when he realised that the apartheid system was leading to economic and political bankruptcy, de Klerk put himself at the head of a radical change of course. He continued the negotiations with Mandela and the ANC liberation movement, which had begun in secret. They agreed to prepare for a presidential election and draw up a new constitution with equal voting rights for every population group in the country.

De Klerk graduated with a law degree from Potchefstroom University in 1958 and then practised law in Vereeniging in the Transvaal. In 1969, he married Marike Willemse, with whom he has two sons and a daughter. De Klerk was offered a professorship of administrative law at Potchefstroom in 1972, but he declined the post because he had been elected to parliament as a National Party member for Vereeniging at the time.

In 1978, he was appointed Minister of Posts and Telecommunications and Social Welfare and Pensions by Prime Minister Vorster. Under Prime Minister P.W. Botha, he held a succession of ministerial posts, including Posts and Telecommunications and Sports and Recreation (1978-1979), Mines, Energy and Environmental Planning (1979-1980), Mineral and Energy Affairs (1980-1982), Internal Affairs (1982-1985), and National Education and Planning (1984-1989). In 1985, he became chairman of the Minister’s Council in the House of Assembly. On December 1, 1986, he became the leader of the House of Assembly.

As Minister of National Education, F.W. de Klerk was a supporter of segregated universities, and as a leader of the National Party in Transvaal, he was not known to advocate reform. In February 1989, de Klerk was elected leader of the National Party, and in September 1989, he was elected State President.

In his first speech after assuming the party leadership, he called for a non-racist South Africa and negotiations about the country’s future. He lifted the ban on the ANC and released Nelson Mandela. He brought apartheid to an end and opened the way for drafting a new constitution based on the principle of one person, one vote and the entrenchment of basic human rights.

After South Africa’s first universal democratic elections on April 27, 1994, de Klerk was appointed as Executive Deputy President in South Africa’s Government of National Unity. He held this post until June 1996, when his party withdrew from the Government of National Unity. From then until he retired from active politics in 1997, de Klerk was the official opposition leader. De Klerk published his autobiography ‘The Last Trek – a New Beginning’ in January 1999 and established the F W de Klerk Foundation to work for peace in societies divided into cultural, ethnic, religious or linguistic lines.

The britannica.com noted that de Klerk committed himself to speed up his predecessor’s reform process and initiate talks about a new post-apartheid constitution with representatives of four designated racial groups (White, Black, Coloured, and Asian [Indian]). Though faced with a strengthened right-wing opposition in parliament (the Conservative Party), following his famous opening address to parliament on February 2, 1990, de Klerk quickly moved to release all-important political prisoners, including Nelson Mandela, and to lift the ban on the African National Congress (ANC) and the Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania.

After that, he frequently met with Black leaders, and in 1991 his government passed legislation that repealed racially discriminatory laws affecting residence, education, public amenities, and health care in South Africa. In 1992 he called a referendum in which almost 69 per cent of the country’s white voters endorsed his reform policies. That same year de Klerk undertook serious negotiations with Mandela and other Black leaders over a proposed new constitution that would enfranchise the Black majority and lead to all-race national elections. In the meantime, his government continued to dismantle the legislative basis for the apartheid system systematically.

What World Leaders Say

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said de Klerk’s death saddened him and the government. According to Aljazeera, De Klerk had played a “key role in ushering in democracy” in the country, Ramaphosa said, expressing his condolences to the former president’s family.

“May FW de Klerk rest in peace and rise in glory. The former president occupied a historic but difficult space in South Africa. The late FW De Klerk played an important role in South Africa’s history,” said Archbishop Desmond Tutu. “At a time when not all of his colleagues saw the future trajectory of the country unfolding in the same way, he recognised the moment for change and demonstrated the will to act on it.”

A statement by the Nelson Mandela Foundation said, “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. De Klerk will forever be linked to Nelson Mandela in the annals of South African history.”

It added, “As head of state, he oversaw the release of Madiba from prison on 11 February 1990. In 1993, they were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for ushering in a negotiated settlement that led to South Africa holding its first democratic election in 1994.”

…Buhari Mourns

Deji Elumoye in Paris, France

President Muhammadu Buhari has mourned the demise of the last white President of South Africa, Frederick de Clerk.

Buhari described his death as, “is the end of an era because of his tremendous impact on history and the cause of justice.”

Reacting to the demise of de Klerk yesterday, Buhari in a statement by his spokesman, Garba Shehu, described Klerk as a remarkable moral force, for change who will be celebrated for years after his death.

According to the president, ending the obnoxious apartheid system by a white President was an incredible act of moral courage and fierce commitment to human rights regardless of the colour of the victims of racial segregation and discrimination in South Africa.

He noted that the late South African leader had put humanity and justice before personal political ambition by dismantling the abhorrent apartheid system.

President Buhari added that, “History will be greatly kind to the late de Klerk because it takes a lot of moral audacity to do what he did at the time he did it. De Klerk who won a joint Nobel Prize for Peace in 1993 alongside Nelson Mandela, will not be forgotten for years to come because of his immense and immeasurable contributions to world peace, human rights and justice”.

Deji Elumoye in Paris, France

President Muhammadu Buhari has mourned the demise of the last white President of South Africa, Frederick de Clerk.

Buhari described his death as, “is the end of an era because of his tremendous impact on history and the cause of justice.”

He noted that the late South African leader had put humanity and justice before personal political ambition by dismantling the abhorrent apartheid system.