It will be a long while yet before history can pass definitive judgment on FW de Klerk, South Africa’s last white head of state.
27-01-2020 NETWERK24 STEMME Onderhoud met voormalige Staatspresident FW de Klerk oor sy toespraak op 2 Februarie 1990 waarin hy die vrylating van Nelson Mandela aangebekondig het asook die ontbanning van die ANC. Nou 30 jaar later reflekteer hy op die punt in die Suid-Afrikaanse geskiedenis. foto: Jaco Marais
In the beginning, he was uncritically heralded by many at home and by the majority of the international community as a brave politician who linked hands with his erstwhile enemy, ANC leader Nelson Mandela, to dismantle apartheid. With the passage of time, the image of De Klerk as peacemaker has declined and, ironically, he has attracted critics – and enemies – from both ends of the political and race spectrum.For whites, the man they regarded as the Moses who would lead them to the promised land of peace and prosperity and away from civil war, is now more and more being labelled a sell-out by conservative whites.
There is also no denying that atrocities at the hand of the security forces continued to happen under De Klerk’s watch… although he did begin the process of tackling some of more secret security units. This was a party far less verkramp, or politically conservative, than many both inside and outside the country believed. That line is, sadly, often dismissed by people who take a stereotypical view of the Nats and Afrikaners, who were the main supporters of the party.De Klerk, however, when confronted in later years around issues like security force brutalities and the failure of the systems put in place to ensure justice for victims, steadfastly refused to apologise.
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