South Africa's last white president, FW de Klerk, dies
Thursday November 11 2021
Former South African President Frederik Willem de Klerk. PHOTO | AFP
FW de Klerk, South Africa's last white president, died on Thursday aged 85, his foundation announced.
De Klerk and South Africa's first black president Nelson Mandela shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for leading the "miracle" transition from white rule in the country.
He died after a battle with cancer, his foundation said in a statement.
De Klerk had announced his diagnosis on his 85th birthday, on March 18 this year.
"It is with the deepest sadness that the FW de Klerk Foundation must announce that former president FW de Klerk died peacefully at his home in Fresnaye earlier this morning following his struggle against mesothelioma cancer," it said.
He is survived by his wife Elita, children Jan and Susan, and grandchildren.
"The family will, in due course, make an announcement regarding funeral arrangements," it added.
He is most remembered for his famous speech delivered on February 2, 1990, announcing the lifting of a ban on the African National Congress (ANC) and other liberation movements.
In the same speech, he ordered the release from the prison of anti-apartheid icon Mandela after 27 years in jail.
Born in the economic hub of Johannesburg, into a family of Afrikaners, a white ethnic group descended mainly from Dutch colonisers, his father was a leading apartheid senator who served briefly as interim president.
He studied law, before being elected to parliament as a member of the National Party that instituted apartheid.
De Klerk then held several ministerial positions before he became present in 1989, a position he held until he handed over the reins to Mandela after the first democratic elections in 1994.
Key dates in the life of FW de Klerk
FW de Klerk time in power marked the end of the racist apartheid regime.
- March 18, 1936: Frederik Willem de Klerk is born in Johannesburg into a family of Afrikaners, a white ethnic group descended mainly from Dutch colonisers. His father is a top senator who serves briefly as interim president.
- 1954-1958: Studies law at university; joins the Broederbond, a secret and ethnically exclusive Calvinist male Afrikaner organisation that wields huge influence in South Africa.
- 1959: Marries fellow student Marike Willemse, who will be a key ally in his political career and a politician in her own right.
- 1972: Elected to parliament as a member of the National Party that promotes Afrikaner interests in South Africa.
- 1978-1989: Holds a succession of ministerial posts.
- 1989-1994: In-office as South Africa's president.
- February 2, 1990: Legalises the banned African National Congress and orders the release of its iconic figurehead Nelson Mandela after 27 years in jail.
- 1991: Ends the apartheid regime in place since 1948.
- 1993: He and Mandela jointly receive the Nobel Peace Prize for their roles in South Africa's "miracle" transition to democracy.
- September 9, 1997: Retires from active politics.
- 1998: Divorces Marike de Klerk and marries Elita Georgiades, the wife of a Greek shipping tycoon with whom he had been having an affair.
- 2000: Sets up the FW de Klerk Foundation to promote inter-community relations.
- December 4, 2001: Marike de Klerk is brutally murdered by a security guard at her home in Cape Town.
- February 2020: Sparks fury when he denies apartheid was a crime against humanity, retracting his comments days later.
- March 18, 2021: Announces he has cancer.
- November 11, 2021: He dies at his home.