| |
|
Frederik Willem de Klerk (born March 18, 1936) was the last State President of Apartheid South Africa, serving from September 1989 to May 1994. De Klerk was also leader of the National Party (which later became the New National Party) from February 1989 to September 1997.
De Klerk is best known for agreeing to end apartheid, South Africa's racial segregation policy, and supporting the transformation of South Africa into a democracy by entering into the negotiations that resulted in all citizens, including the country's black majority, having equal voting and other rights. He shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Nelson Mandela in 1993 for his role in the ending of apartheid.
He was the Deputy President of South Africa during the presidency of Nelson Mandela until 1996. In 1997, he retired from politics.
// if (window.showTocToggle) { var tocShowText = "show"; var tocHideText = "hide"; showTocToggle(); } //
Early career
Born in Johannesburg, de Klerk is the son of former Senator Jan de Klerk and a nephew of J.G. Strijdom (Prime Minister from 1954–58). After completing high school in Krugersdorp, de Klerk graduated in 1958 from the Potchefstroom University with BA and LLB degrees (the latter cum laude). In 1969 he married Marike Willemse, with whom he had two sons and a daughter.
"F.W.", as he became popularly known, was first elected to the South African Parliament in 1969 as the member for Vereeniging, and entered the cabinet in 1978. He became Transvaal provincial National Party leader in 1982. After a long political career and with a very conservative reputation, in 1989 he placed himself at the head of verligte ("enlightened") forces within the governing party, with the result that he was elected head of the National Party in February 1989, and finally State President in September 1989 to replace then president P.W. Botha when the latter was forced to step down after a stroke.
Ending apartheid
Main article: Apartheid.
De Klerk believed that apartheid could not survive and that concessions would need to be made with, at best, power sharing between black and white people. This was for various reasons:
- escalating unrest in the country, and the realisation that this could only be resolved by political change and not by increased repression by the state
- increasingly stringent international sanctions, driven by the United Nations, which were stifling the South African economy
- an increasing number of white South Africans becoming disillusioned with apartheid
- the collapse of the communism in Eastern Europe and thus the end of the 'rooi gevaar' (red danger).
In his opening address to parliament on February 2, 1990, he legalised the ANC, the PAC and the SACP, ordered the release of many political prisoners, reduced emergency detentions to six months and suspended the death sentence. These actions paved the way for negotiations which led to the end of apartheid and National Party rule.
On February 10, 1990, de Klerk announced that Nelson Mandela would be released the next day. The Government and the ANC began talks in May 1990, and by June the state of emergency had been lifted and the ANC had agreed to a ceasefire. In 1991, the Acts which restricted land ownership, specified separate living areas and classified people by race were all repealed. South Africa had taken its first real steps towards becoming an open 'multiracial' society.
In 1992, de Klerk held a national referendum, where white South Africans, being the only enfranchised citizens, voted "Yes" for the reforms. De Klerk and Mandela were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for their work for the peaceful dismantling of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa.
De Klerk's reforms led many pro-apartheid supporters to leave the National Party and join the Conservative Party, which was against many of the reforms. It also provoked a resurgence of opposition from the white far-right AWB, and violence also continued between Inkatha and the ANC, fuelled by the revelation that the government had given economic and military aid to Inkatha.
In April of 1994, racially inclusive elections were held for the first time ever. De Klerk ran a largely ceremonial and uncompetitive presidential campaign against Mandela, in which Mandela was soundly elected. He went on to serve for two years as deputy president in Nelson Mandela's government, but announced his retirement from politics in August, 1997, in order to disassociate the National Party from the policies he had once implemented.
Although doubt has been expressed as to whether the main motivation in his decision to end apartheid was because he believed it to be wrong, or because he was giving in to domestic and international pressure, he cites personal conviction as his primary aim. In his own words, questioned on his rationale for bringing an end to apartheid (speaking at Richmond Hill High School in Ontario, Canada in November, 2005), the former President responded that he decided to end apartheid "to bring justice to everybody. The realisation that I cannot build the best interests of my people on the basis of injustice towards a majority of the other people who share the same country with me and my people."
Later life
In 1998, Conservative South African opinion was scandalised by de Klerk's messy divorce from his wife of 38 years, Marike, and his prompt re-marriage to Elita Georgiades. Then, in 2001, the country was shocked by the violent death of his ex-wife, apparently at the hands of a young security guard during the course of a robbery.
In 2004, de Klerk announced that he was quitting the New National Party and seeking a new political home after it was announced that the NNP would merge with the ruling ANC.
The de Klerk Name
The name 'de Klerk' is derived from Le Clerc / Le Clercq / De Clercq and is of French Huguenot origin [1], as are a great number of other Afrikaans surnames, reflecting the large number of French Huguenot refugees who settled in the Cape beginning in the seventeenth century as refugees escaping religious persecution.
Notes
- ^ Ces Francais Qui Ont Fait L'Afrique Du Sud. Translation: The French People Who Made South Africa. Bernard Lugan. January 1996. ISBN: 2841000869'
External links
|
