By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
FW de Klerk, the former president of South Africa and the last white man to lead the country, has died at the age of 85.
De Klerk died earlier this morning at his home in Fresnaye after his struggle against cancer.
He was also a key figure in the nation’s transition to democracy, had been diagnosed with cancer this year.
In a statement on 8 June 2021, the foundation said he was diagnosed with mesothelioma – “a cancer that affects the lining of the lungs” – in March 2021. He was receiving immunotherapy for the illness.
De Klerk was the head of state from September 1989 until May 1994 and became one of the country’s two deputy presidents after the first multi-racial, democratic election in April 1994
He entered Parliament in 1972 after training as a lawyer and winning his seat in Vereeniging, in what was then known as Southern Transvaal. He was appointed to the Cabinet of prime minister John Vorster in 1978 and served in various portfolios, including Minister of National Education. De Klerk was also a member of the Broederbond, the secretive Afrikaner organisation then active in politics and society.
De Klerk succeeded PW Botha as the leader of the National Party in February 1989 after Botha suffered a stroke and resigned from the party leadership. He became president seven months later after Botha quit the post in anger and the National Party won a whites-only election with a reduced margin.
On 2 February 1990, exactly one year after taking the reins as National Party leader, De Klerk announced to Parliament that he was unbanning the ANC, SACP, PAC and other liberation movements, and that he was releasing Nelson Mandela unconditionally. This led to a multi-party negotiation process between 1990 and 1994, paving the way for the democratic election.
The 1993 Nobel Peace Prize was jointly awarded to De Klerk and Mandela, who became the country’s first democratically elected president the following year.
He is survived by his wife Elita (68), whom he married in November 1998, son Jan (57) and daughter Susan (52). His son Willem died of cancer in October 2020 at the age of 53. His former wife, Marike, whom he divorced in 1998, was murdered at the age of 64 in 2001.