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Fw de klerk and nelson mandela |the history of south africa

De Klerk brokered the end of apartheid, South Africa's racial segregation policy, and supported the transformation of South Africa into a multi-racial democracy by entering into the negotiations that resulted in all citizens, including the country's black majority, having equal voting and other rights.

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He won the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize in 1991, the Prince of Asturias Award in 1992 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 along with Nelson Mandela for his role in the ending of apartheid.

 

He was one of the deputy presidents of South Africa during the presidency of Nelson Mandela until 1996, and is the last white person to hold the position. Fw de klerk and nelson mandela |the history of south africa In 1997 he retired from active politics. He continues to remain active as a lecturer internationally. After the deaths of P.W. Botha in 2006 and Marais Viljoen in 2007, de Klerk is the last surviving State President of South Africa. Until the ascension of Guy Scott as acting President of Zambia in October 2014, he was the last White President of a continental African country.

Ending apartheid

For most of his career, de Klerk had a very conservative reputation. The NP's Transvaal branch was historically the most staunchly conservative wing of the party, and he supported continued segregation of universities while Minister of National Education. It thus came as a surprise when in 1989 he placed himself at the head of verligte ("enlightened") forces within the governing party who had come to believe that apartheid could not be maintained forever. This wing favoured beginning negotiations while there was still time to get reasonable terms.
P. W. Botha resigned as leader of the National Party after an apparent stroke, and de Klerk defeated Botha's preferred successor, finance minister Barend du Plessis, in the race to succeed him. A month later, the NP caucus nominated de Klerk as state president. Botha initially refused to resign, saying that he intended to serve out his full five-year term, which expired in 1990.Fw de klerk and nelson mandela |the history of south africa He even hinted that he might run for re-election. However, after protracted negotiations, Botha agreed to resign after the September 1989 parliamentary elections and hand power to de Klerk. However, Botha abruptly resigned on 14 August, and de Klerk was named acting state president until 20 September, when he was elected to a full five-year term as state president.

In some of his first speeches after assuming the party leadership, he called for a non-racist South Africa and for negotiations about the country's future. A couple of months later, in February 1990, he suddenly lifted the bans on the African National Congress (ANC) and the Communist Party of South Africa, released Nelson Mandela and also many others who had been imprisoned solely on the grounds of their membership in the ANC or CPSA. In legislative terms, he enabled the gradual end of apartheid. De Klerk also opened the way for the negotiations of the government with the anti-apartheid-opposition about a new constitution for the country. Nevertheless, he was accused by Anthony Sampson of complicity in the violence between the ANC, the Inkatha Freedom Party and elements of the security forces. In Mandela: The Authorised Biography, Sampson accuses de Klerk of permitting his ministers to build their own criminal empires.

 

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the first demographic post-Apartheid elections in May-June 2014, THE OTHER MAN explores the incredible life and legacy of the last white President of South Africa, F.W. de Klerk. In less than 4 years, de Klerk went from being the man who jailed Nelson Mandela to becoming his second deputy vice president. Initially a supporter of the Apartheid, de Klerk, astonishingly, went on to orchestrate its end. In 1993, jointly with Mandela, he received the Nobel Peace Prize.
Featuring in-depth, exclusive interviews with de Klerk himself along with many other experts who played a vital role in pre- and post-Apartheid South Africa.

In 1990, de Klerk gave orders to end South Africa's nuclear weapons programme; the process of nuclear disarmament was essentially completed in 1991. The existence of the programme was not officially acknowledged before 1993.

In 1993, de Klerk and Mandela were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work ending apartheid. After the first universal elections in 1994, de Klerk became deputy president in the government of national unity under Nelson Mandela, a post he kept until 1996.Fw de klerk and nelson mandela |the history of south africa In 1997 he resigned the leadership of the National Party and retired from politics.