A statement from the FW de Klerk Foundation said “Former President FW De Klerk died peacefully at his home in Fresnaye earlier this morning (Thursday November 11, 2021) following his struggle against mesothelioma cancer”.
Frederik Willem De Klerk, served as South Africa’s last apartheid-era president and won the Nobel Peace Prize alongside Nelson Mandela.
He ruled South Africa as State President from 1989 to 1994 and also served as Deputy President from 1994 to 1996.
Reports by DW Africa said, “De Klerk was diagnosed with mesothelioma, cancer that affects the lining of the lungs, in March and was receiving immunotherapy”.
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,” the statement added.
Together with Mandela, De Klerk oversaw the end of white-minority rule in South Africa.
In February 1990, he delivered a speech at the county’s parliament, announcing sweeping reforms that marked the beginning of the negotiated transition from apartheid to democracy.
The reforms lifted the ban on the African National Congress (ANC) and other anti-apartheid organisations, and authorised the release of political prisoners, including Mandela. It also put a moratorium on the death penalty.
The speech marked the official end of segregation policies and the start of the negotiations that led to a constitutional democracy with equal rights for all South Africans.
Amid gasps, several members of parliament members left the chamber as he spoke.
Nine days later, Mandela walked free.
Four years after that, Mandela was elected the country’s first Black president as Black South Africans voted for the first time.
By then, De Klerk and Mandela had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for their often-tense cooperation in moving South Africa away from institutionalised racism and toward democracy.
Speaking from Johannesburg, Al Jazeera’s Fahmida Miller described Mandela and De Klerk’s relationship as one of mutual respect.
“They were part of very important talks that led to the end of apartheid and a peaceful transition in South Africa. This was the apartheid leader that said apartheid would come to an end. He continued to have a good relationship with the African National Congress, in fact becoming a member later on,” said Miller.
“He was revered by many and respected by man. He is lauded for the role he had in the peaceful transition in South Africa,” she added.
Born in the economic hub of Johannesburg, into a family of Afrikaners, a white ethnic group descended mainly from Dutch colonisers, de Klerk’s 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 reigns to Mandela after the first democratic elections in 1994.
