Whether FW De Klerk is a hero or a villain will no doubt depend on who you ask the question of, because we bring our most deeply held political convictions to debates about legacy.
There is no regard here for the thousands of black South Africans killed under his leadership and the government of which he was a senior leader, including within the security strictures specifically. These black South Africans did not die quietly in their sleep at the age of 85. There is no “” for the victims of apartheid. Many of their families still suffer the trauma of not being able to bury a loved one who was never found or who was blown to pieces.
Liberals simply want to meditate on De Klerk as if he is as sweet and harmless as Joshua Doore, your uncle in the furniture business. They will, in the days ahead, either loudly ignore conversation about his crimes or refuse to describe them fully. That is the logic of apartheid geography. De Klerk's refusal to concede that apartheid geography was generally racist and specifically based on white supremacist ideology shows that he did not deserve the Nobel Peace Prize.
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