Photo: YouTube
South Africa’s last white president, FW de Klerk, (above left) who with Nelson Mandela oversaw the end of apartheid, has died in Cape Town aged 85, with his office issuing a prerecorded posthumous video apology for the country’s discriminatory system of white minority rule.
“I, without qualification, apologise for the pain and the hurt and the indignity and the damage that apartheid has done to Black, brown and Indians in South Africa,” a gaunt De Klerk said in the recording.
He added his concern, however, over South Africa’s future, saying: “I’m deeply concerned about the undermining of many aspects of the constitution, which we perceive almost day to day.”
De Klerk’s death was announced by his foundation earlier on Thursday.De Klerk’s death was announced by his foundation earlier on Thursday. “Former president FW de Klerk died peacefully at his home in Fresnaye earlier this morning following his struggle against mesothelioma cancer,” the FW de Klerk Foundation said in a statement.
De Klerk, who jointly won the Nobel peace prize with Mandela, leaves behind a complicated legacy in a country still scarred by the consequences of the brutal institutionalised system of white-minority rule that he helped usher out.
As well as ending apartheid, De Klerk, who as a minister had helped uphold white-minority rule…Read more.
