protected space by Thuli Madonsela GRASPING THE DE KLERK MOMENT Much vitriol was expended over FW de Klerk’s final video — but used properly, this is a chance to deal with our demons
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n Zulu we say: “Unlike water, people do not go in the same direction.” This means that people do not always hold the same views on a matter. The passing of former president FW De Klerk is a quintessential example of this aphorism. This event evoked a multiplicity of reactions. His posthumous video message, in which he apologised for his role in apartheid and the hurt and damage it caused, elicited even more diametrically opposed views.
AFP/FW De Klerk Foundation
The primary reason the video was derided was because it was seen as too little, too late. Plenty of vitriol was expended rebutting the claim, shared by the late Ahmed Kathrada (among others), that De Klerk had contributed to the unlocking of democracy. Those rejecting this circulated another video in which Nelson Mandela contended that De Klerk only bowed to the inevitable, because economic sanc-
De Klerk closed the gate to denials of the impact of apartheid. This could present a major shift 10
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December 16 - December 22, 2021
tions and other anti-apartheid measures had forced his hand. The whole thing reminded me of a song we used to sing at high school. It told the story of a few men passing through a veld. One of the men only saw grass; another only saw the stars; a doctor saw water and only thought of the diseases it carried; a warrior saw the valley as perfect for a great war; and a realtor saw the veld as ideal for developing a human settlement. A few weeks ago, when my partner and I visited the Kruger Shalati Train in Kruger National Park, the moral lesson behind the song finally dawned on me. Which is that we see different things from the same situation, depending on our paradigm. For those who don’t know, the Kruger Shalati is a five-star hotel in a magnificent train on a disused bridge near Skukuza camp. Many would have seen it as simply a decommissioned bridge in the veld, but Jerry Mabena saw a perfect location to create an innovative hotel. And in the train wreck, Mabena saw recyclable material for his hotel. His vision included an opportunity for varied income pipelines and jobs for the locals, most of whom had never worked before. This is apposite when it comes to De Klerk’s controversial message, since we were bound to perceive it differently, depending on our different paradigms. Some people focused on how De Klerk had died without a full disclosure on apartheid atrocities, which
had robbed them of the truth. Others saw it as a surreptitious attempt to whitewash a soiled legacy. Another person said the video had only really succeeded in reopening wounds that were in the process of healing. It is not my place to judge the correctness of each person’s perspective. However, in that video, I saw a gift — one that could unlock our impasse regarding the impact of apartheid on the present. I saw the possibility for a reset, in terms of where we go from here on restitution and reconciliation. In the message De Klerk admitted playing a role in designing and implementing apartheid. He said: “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 SA.” The way I saw it was based on my belief in mining the duality of adversity to build a better outcome. When faced with a fait accompli, there’s little point in getting stuck in a blame game. Instead, we should ask: how do we pull forward and what can we leverage from the misfortune to do that? What De Klerk did was important. At a time when some deny that racial inequality must be tackled to allow society to heal from past injustices, De Klerk closed the gate to denials of the impact of apartheid. Properly used, this could present a shift moment, which allows SA to to accelerate its healing journey — encompassing political inclusion and the need for social, economic, cultural and psychological restitution. Of course, whether we can harness this moment depends on what we intend to achieve, what we consider significant and what we choose to give attention to. You be the judge. Madonsela is the Law Trust Chair in Social Justice at Stellenbosch University and founder of the Thuma Foundation
