PERSONALITY XXX PROFILE
FW de Klerk “De Klerk’s legacy is a big one. It is also an uneven one, something South Africans are called to reckon with in this moment.” — Sello Hatang, Chief Executive of the Nelson Mandela Foundation
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ollowing the death of FW de Klerk on 11 November 2021, aged 85, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa released a statement in which he credited the former president with playing a “vital role in our transition to democracy in the 1990s, which originated from his first meeting in 1989, with President Nelson Mandela, who was a political prisoner at that stage.” De Klerk “took the courageous decision to unban political parties, release political prisoners and enter into negotiations with the liberation movement amid severe pressure to the contrary from many in his political constituency,” he said, adding that he was “a committed South African who embraced the democratic constitutional dispensation and placed the long-term future of the country ahead of narrow political interests. Serving as Deputy President from 1994 to 1996, Mr De Klerk played an important role in the Government of National Unity, dedicating himself to the constitutional imperative of healing the divisions and conflict of our
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past. Deputy President De Klerk’s passing, weeks before the 25th anniversary of our democratic Constitution, should inspire all of us to reflect on the birth of our democracy and on our shared duty to remain true to the values of our Constitution. May his soul rest in peace.” The early years Frederik Willem “FW” de Klerk was born on 18 March 1936 in Johannesburg to a cabinet minister father, which perhaps accounted for his interest in politics from a young age. He matriculated at Monument High School in Krugersdorp, after which he attended Potchefstroom University. In 1958 he graduated with BA and LLB degrees (cum laude) and then landed his first job with a firm of attorneys in Vereeniging. In 1972 he was offered the position of Chair of Administrative Law at Potchefstroom University but declined it, having decided to enter active politics. That same year, he was elected as Member of Parliament for Vereeniging. In 1978, just after his 42nd birthday and,
SECURITY FOCUS AFRICA NOVEMBER 2021
with a mere five and a half years as a back bencher (defined by the Collins Dictionary as a member of Parliament who is not a minister and who does not hold an official position in his or her political party), he was appointed to the Cabinet. During the ensuing 11 years, he was responsible for various portfolios including Posts and Telecommunications; Social Welfare and Pensions; Sport and Recreation; Mining and Environmental Planning; Mineral and Energy Affairs; Internal Affairs and the Public Service; and National Education, the portfolio he held when he was elected as State President in 1989. It was a position he held until the inauguration of the country’s first democratically-elected president Nelson Mandela on 10 May 1994, after which he served as deputy president in the National Unity Government until 1996. In his address at the opening of the second session of the ninth parliament in South Africa on 2 February 1990, he said: “Our country and all its people have been embroiled in conflict, tension and violent
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