CAPE TOWN, (The Southern African Times) – South Africa’s last apartheid president Frederik Willem (FW) de Klerk, who passed away Thursday, in his final message repeated his apology in a video clip for the hurt that apartheid has done to black, brown and Indian people in the country.
“I, without qualification, apologize for the pain, and the hurt, and the indignity, and the damage that apartheid has done to black, brown and Indians in South Africa,” said de Klerk in the seven-minute video clip posted on the website of FW de Klerk Foundation.
While reiterating the apology, de Klerk said many didn’t believe his apologies for the pain and indignity that apartheid has brought to people.
De Klerk, who died Thursday morning at his home in Cape Town following his struggle against mesothelioma cancer, is still often accused by critics of justifying apartheid.
Born in 1936 in Johannesburg, de Klerk, the son of a cabinet minister, during his presidency from September 1989 to May 1994 initiated and presided over the inclusive negotiations that led to the dismantling of apartheid established in 1948 and the adoption of South Africa’s first fully democratic constitution in December 1993. He and Nelson Mandela, who later became South Africa’s first black president, shared the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize.
De Klerk in the video made his apology in the capacity of an individual and the former leader of the National Party, which was in power before Mandela-led African National Congress (ANC) won the first non-racial elections in 1994. It later joined the coalition government and in the end merged with ANC.
In the video clip, de Klerk said he defended “separate development,” another name of apartheid, in his younger years, however, his views “changed completely” and realized that apartheid was wrong since 1980s. He also pleaded with the government, all parties, civil society and all South Africans that they should once again embrace the Constitution, which he said is being undermined, and interpret it “in the balanced way which the Constitution demands.”
Following his passing, domestic political leaders including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Speaker of the National Assembly Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces Amos Masondo, leader of the official opposition Democratic Alliance John Steenhuisen offered their condolences to his family. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also mourned his death.
De Klerk was praised for his role in South Africa’s transition to democracy, unbanning political parties, releasing political prisoners including Mandela and entering negotiations of the transition.
While acknowledging his contribution to the transition, Thuli Madonsela, law faculty trust chair in Social Justice at Stellenbosch University, said de Klerk’s previous pronouncements about apartheid were hurtful and troubling.
In an interview in 2020, de Klerk didn’t agree that apartheid was a crime against humanity, but he later withdrew the statement and apologized for it. His comments shocked the nation, prompting calls for de Klerk and his foundation to unconditionally retract the irresponsible statement.
Madonsela said Friday in a written response to Xinhua’s request for comment that de Klerk’s final message gives South Africans “a basis for a reset aimed at collectively acknowledging and appreciating the damage apartheid did and deliberately fixing it.”
South Africa’s third biggest political party Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), which pursues radical economic emancipation, issued a statement that was critical of de Klerk’s comments on apartheid. It also opposed a state funeral for de Klerk, alleging that he was the president of the apartheid, not the democratic government.
