A state memorial service was today held for South Africa’s former President Frederik Willem de Klerk after he died from lung cancer aged 85 last month.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was one of the high-profile visitors who paid tribute at Sunday’s memorial service at Groote Kerk in Cape Town to De Klerk. He is also known as his initials FW.
After being diagnosed with lung cancer in March, De Klerk oversaw South Africa’s transformation from apartheid. He was also the recipient of the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize.
De Klerk secured his place in history by announcing Mandela’s release after 27 years imprisonment and lifting the ban on black liberation movements. This effectively declared the end of white-minority rule.
De Klerk was controversial in South Africa. Many blamed him in violence against Black South Africans during his reign, and some saw white people’s efforts to bring in post-apartheid democracy in South Africa as betrayal.
After being diagnosed with lung cancer in March, De Klerk was responsible for the country’s transformation from apartheid. He also shared the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize. Pictured in Cape Town: Mandela, de Klerk and Nelson Mandela in 2006.
During Sunday’s memorial service, De Klerks wife Elita sits beside South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (right).
FW de Klerk was the former South African President. This portrait is taken during Sunday’s state memorial service at Groote Kerk in Cape Town.
Elita De Klerk, Elita’s spouse, stated that the ex-President ‘couldn’t find peace within this horrible system’ of apartheid during Sunday’s funeral service.
She stated that FW is a man of great planning. He planned meticulously once he had a clear idea of what he was trying to accomplish.
“He struggled between intelligence and emotion. It was his emotion that paid for the suffering the country was experiencing. In this horrible system, he could not locate people. It had affected his psychological well-being.
Elita stated that De Klerk had always been concerned about South Africa’s future after apartheid.
Elle added, “My love for him is what will keep me by his side.”
Elita De Klerk was quoted by his wife during the Sunday memorial service as saying that De Klerk could not find peace with apartheid’s harrowing system.
Elita Georgiades, second wife of former president FW de Klerk at the FW de Klerk Foundation conference held in Johannesburg (South Africa) on July 25, 2012.
De Klerk apologized In a dark video, he spoke out about the ‘pain & damage’ that apartheid has caused in an emotional tribute released last month.
He admitted that he was a supporter of apartheid (or’separate Development’) in his younger years.
Critics often accuse me of continuing to justify apartheid (or separate development) as they later preferred to refer to it. “It is true that I advocated separate development in my younger years,” De Klerk, who is ill, says in the video.
“Afterwards, I apologized to South Africans for the indignity and pain apartheid caused to South African people of color. Some people believed me while others did not.
De Klerk expressed regret for apartheid’s effects on black, brown and Indians.
The former South African President, FW de Klerk has apologised to the ‘pain & damage’ that apartheid caused in a sombre, video (pictured) released by his foundation following his lung cancer death last month.
Frederik William de Klerk (the former president of South Africa, 1989-1994) died in November at 85. De Klerk is pictured February 2020, during the opening ceremony of the South African parliament.
File photo of Nelson Mandela, President African National Congress (R), greeting Frederik Willemde Klerk (L), shortly after arriving at The World Trade Centre for the summit on ways to stop political violence.
In a statement last month, the spokesperson for FW de Klerk Foundation confirmed that the ex-president died at home in Fresnaye (Cape Town), according to a statement.
“It’s with deepest sorrow that we announce the passing of former President FW de Klerk at Fresnaye, after a long battle against mesothelioma.
The president, who served from 1989 to 1994, is survived by his wife Elita, two children Susan and Jan, and several grandchildren.
De Klerk’s passing was announced by the Nelson Mandela Foundation in a statement that said the former presdient would ‘forever be connected to Nelson Mandela within the annals South African history.
The legacy of De Klerk is significant. It is also an uneven one, something South Africans are called to reckon with in this moment,’ the statement added in reference to De Klerk’s efforts to dismantle apartheid but refusal to make a full accounting for the horrific violence that took place under his government’s earlier rule.
Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of South Africa paid tribute to the last president who was white and thanked him for helping transform South Africa.
He said, in a statement, that he was saddened at the passing of FW de Kleerk. This leader changed the course history, liberating Nelson Mandela, and helping to bring democracy and end apartheid to South Africa.
“De Klerk will always be remembered for his determination and realistism in doing the right thing and making South Africa a better place,” he said.
FW De Klerk poses in front of his Cape Town office on March 18, 1992. A copy of a local newspaper has banner headlines declaring a Yes’ vote for a referendum that would end apartheid.
File photo of Nelson Mandela, ANC President, and Frederik W. de Klerk, South African President, walking to peace-oriented Easter services in Moria, South Africa, April 3, 1994.
The world was stunned when De Klerk ended apartheid, and instead negotiated the peaceful transfer of power under Nelson Mandela to a Black-led government.
While he received worldwide praise and the Nobel Peace prize, along with Mandela, de Klerk was only mocked by many Blacks who were outraged at his inability to stop political violence during the chaotic years that led to the 1994 all-racial elections.
Right-wing white Afrikaners – descendants of French and Dutch settlers — saw him as a traitor for their cause of white supremacy and nationalism.
De Klerk was born in Johannesburg on March 18, 1936. His father was a well-known politician, and he was keen to continue his father’s legacy.
After receiving a degree in law from Potchefstroom University, he established an enviable law firm that served as his springboard to current affairs and politics.
He was elected as a member to South Africa’s National Party in 1972. His performance quickly rose and he managed to oversee a number of departments, including national education and planning, energy affairs and mines.
De Klerk was elected as the leader of the House of Assembly, in 1986. In early 1989 Pieter Willem Botha became ill and De Klerk became President of South Africa in September 1994.
Botha, who was 90 at the time of his death in 2006, showed no regret for apartheid.
Mandela wrote that Mandela felt that Mandela was the ideal party leader when he assumed the headship of the National Party.
“Nothing from his past suggested a spirit or reform.”
De Klerk, despite all this, quickly orchestrated South Africa’s transformation from a minority white government to democracy.
FW de Klerk can be seen here in London, May 1990. This was just three months after he released Nelson Mandela from jail and lifted the ban on African National Congress. It is paving the path for a multiracial South African democracy.
De Klerk made the announcement in 1990 that he would release Nelson Mandela, anti-apartheid leader and five months after his presidency. He and Mandela were jointly awarded the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize.
De Klerk began immediately to accelerate and strengthen the Constitutional Reforms that his predecessor had proposed, despite opposition from the Conservative Party.
De Klerk’s transition from being a slave of apartheid and into the wrecking ball was similar to that of Mikhail Gorbachev, former Soviet Union leader. Both men were great party members who reached the top of their respective parties before reforming or dismantling the system that sustained them for many decades.
Gorbachev’s Soviet Union collapsed and communism was in Eastern Europe gave de Klerk the opportunity to start his bold initiatives. This helped remove the haunting spectre known as the ‘Red Menace’ which had plagued many white South Africans.
“The disintegration in Eastern Europe of communism occurred in the first months of my presidency,” de Klerk stated in his autobiography, “The Last Trek: A New Beginning”.
He said that ‘within the space of a few month, one our primary strategic concerns was gone for decades.’ “A new window opened that allowed for an even more daring approach to the problem than was previously possible.”
In February 1990, De Klerk made the shocking announcement that he would free Nelson Mandela (an anti-apartheid leader) and all political prisoners within five months of his election as President.
He also ended the ban on the African National Congress (ANC), and oversaw a peaceful transition of power to Mandela in 1994 in South Africa’s first multi-racial elections, before serving for two years as Mandela’s deputy in a ‘Government of National Unity’.
De Klerk kept this important decision secret, despite the risk of a leak or a reaction from right-wing whites. De Klerk’s wife wasn’t even aware of the situation until they were about to head for parliament.
Following Mandela’s release, negotiations for a peaceful transition from non-racial democracy were held in the face of increasing political violence. It often appeared that they might be stopped. This scenario would have almost certainly plunged the country into a race war.
In what commentators called a ‘political miracle,’ peace was achieved.
Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk (R), pose together with their Nobel Peace Prize Gold Medals and Diplomas, Oslo, December 10, 1993. F.W. De Klerk was responsible for ending South Africa’s white minority rule. He died today at 85.
Mandela gave a glowing review to his predecessor at de Klerk’s 70th birthday party in 2006.
“If two elderly or aged men can learn anything for their country and the world it’s that conflict resolutions are only possible if the adversaries are willing to fundamentally accept each other’s integrity.
Mandela died at 95 in December 2013, six months after the 20th anniversary South Africa’s first all race elections.
Mandela and De Klerk shared the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize. They were recognized for their collaboration in helping to bring non-racial democracy into the country.
De Klerk was a chain-smoking whiskey drinker and Mandela had a difficult relationship. De Klerk resigned in 1996 saying that the ANC did not value his counsel or direction.
In 1997, he resigned from active politics and later apologized to Archbishop Desmond Tutu for the sufferings caused by apartheid.
He said, “History has proven that our past leaders made grave mistakes in their decisions regarding apartheid policy.”
After his retirement, he was the founder of the FW de Klerk Foundation. It is a foundation that works for peace and reconciliation in multi-cultural communities.
Marike was his 39-year-old wife. In 1998, he split with Elita Georgiadis. Elita is the wife a Greek shipping tycoon.
Marike was raped in Cape Town’s luxury beachfront house in December 2001. It is an example of South Africa’s high levels of violent crime.
F. W. de Klerk is the former leader and president of National Party. He discusses his resignation at a National Party Caucus meeting, Cape Town, August 26 1997.
De Klerk (R), who retired in 1997 as an active politician, later spoke out before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He said that history has proven that apartheid’s former leaders made grave mistakes in their decisions. (Pictured: Tutu and De Klerk in Cape Town, Aug. 21 1996)
De Klerk stated that South Africa was facing a variety of threats, including rising crime and unemployment as well as discontent from potential voters in a 1999 interview.
“All sections of South Africa’s population are becoming increasingly discouraged. South Africans as well as investors and anyone with an interest South Africa is deeply worried about the rising crime rate. It is urgent that we find a way to break the cycle of crime,’ he stated.
But he tried to balance his tone 10 years later. He stated shortly after President Jacob Zuma came to power in 2009, that the Zulu polygamist would ‘confound all prophets of doom’.
Mandela’s passing also touched him.
“Tata, We Will Miss You,” he declared in a statement. He was using Mandela’s affectionate South African term, which translates to grandfather.
FW de Klerk, South Africa’s Nobel Peace Laureate and last white President of South Africa, was born on these dates.
March 18, 1936Frederik Willem De Klerk was born in Johannesburg to a family made up of Afrikaners. This is a group that descends mainly from Dutch colonisers. He is the son of a prominent senator and serves as an interim president.
1954-1958Study law at University; Joins Broederbond (a secrecy and exclusive Calvinist male Afrikaner organization that has a huge influence in South Africa).
1959:Marries Marike Willemse a student, who will become a close ally during his political career as well as an independent politician.
1972: Elected as member of the National Party, which promotes South African Afrikaner interests.
1978-1989:A number of ministerial posts are held.
1989-1994:Serving as South Africa’s president.
February 2, 1990After 27 years imprisonment, the African National Congress is legalized and Nelson Mandela is released.
1991:The apartheid regime that has been in effect since 1948 is ended.
1993Mandela and he jointly received the Nobel Peace Prize.
September 9, 1997: Retires as active politician.
1998Marike de Krak divorces and marries Elita Gades, the widow of a Greek shipping mogul.
2000: To promote intercommunity relations, establishes the FW de Klerk Foundation
December 4, 2001Marike de Kleerk was brutally killed by her security guard in Cape Town.
February 2020His denial of apartheid as a crime against humanity sparked fury. He later retracted his comments several days later.
March 18, 2021: Swears he has been diagnosed with cancer.
November 11, 2021: He is buried at home.
FW De Klerk pictured, Vienna, Austria – 19 January 2015.