Nkosinathi Biko | Here’s the real De Klerk legacy
South Africans who are still nursing the raw wounds of apartheid found the recent utterances by the last president of apartheid South Africa, FW de Klerk, vile, provocative and reactionary.
We have been gifted with an opportune window to the soul of a man whose proper place in history may be substantially lower that the sum total of his actions. As with similar incidents, which include the murder of anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Timol, the pain of Aggett’s sister and nephew should be our collective pain, given that Aggett fought for our freedom.From 1990, former president Nelson Mandela took flak from the political left for daring to share a table with De Klerk and his ilk, and for leading the country to a negotiated political settlement on the terms and conditions he agreed to.
For a significant part of his political career, De Klerk was no mere appendage to the apartheid system. He was at the helm of the commission of a crime against humanity.In his reply, Madiba admonished De Klerk, saying: “I am gravely concerned about the behaviour of Mr De Klerk. He has launched an attack on the ANC and, in doing so, has been less than frank.
“Although he wants these democratic changes, he has sometimes very little idea what democracy means ... He can’t talk to us in that manner … This type of thing, of trying to take advantage of the cooperation which we are giving him willingly, is something [that is] extremely dangerous and I hope this is the last time he will do so.
But, despite his reservations, Madiba elevated De Klerk’s hand to jointly accept the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway in December 1993, and again to rehabilitate him by choosing him as one of his two deputies in 1994. It is reported that the UN General Assembly dubbed apartheid a crime against humanity through resolution 2202 as of 1966, which was later endorsed by the Security Council in 1984.
For a significant part of his political career, De Klerk was no mere appendage to the apartheid system.Madiba was more than kind in describing him merely as “a product of apartheid”.Criminal-in-chief of apartheid