What's the legacy of South Africa's last Apartheid-era president? | Inside Story

South Africa's last white president, F.W. de Klerk, has died of cancer at the age of 85.
He was jointly awarded the 1993 Nobel Peace prize with Nelson Mandela for dismantling Apartheid.
Some praised him for ending white minority rule, while others called him a traitor.
Despite becoming a democracy, South Africa remains one of the most divided and unequal countries in the world.
So what legacy does de Klerk leave behind?
Presenter: Hashem Ahelbarra
Guests:
Thembisa Fakude - Senior Research Fellow, Africa Asia Dialogues.
Kim Heller - Author, 'No White Lies: Black Politics and White power'.
Mosiuoa Lekota - South African Parliament member.
@aljazeeraenglish
#Declerk
#SouthAfrica

[@thendoramatsitsi9519]

Was he not pressured to end Appartness by the UN and endless protest around the world in support of the ANC?

[@thabangmakalela6045]

Yes u right they whr even suction

[@lalina1304]

They want us to forget all that and thank him for allowing us to be free on our soil. 😒

[@thezarreport]

I suspect that De Klerk saw the inevitable but chose an option that allowed those who were served by Apartheid to live on unharmed and in posession of the economy. That's a logical thing to do given that it was inevitable that they'd be overthrown, it wasn't an "oh no this is wrong guys and we think it should be ended". De Klerk actually said that himself, in a speech in the late 1990s he actually said "minority rights have been secured"

[@lalina1304]

Exactly... It was a calculated decision. For many years he supported apartheid, then he suddenly realised hey 🤔 perhaps being evil is wrong, like he said in his final speech, just doesn't make any sense. There is no goodness of the heart here.

[@henniebester9437]

An economy is not something you possess, it is something you partake in if you have services or goods to sell.

[@bdlfontaine3240]

"Any gift, however small, improves the condition of humanity... It is like a scale. If evil and oppression are weighing down the scale completely on one side, you don’t have something as great as that to counteract it, to balance the scale, to offset the overwhelming dominance of evil and circumstance, of ignorance, of oppression, of poverty and so forth. When you add to the other part of the scale something small, it seems to have no effect, but when others add something small, sooner or later, in time, the scale is balanced, and beyond this it moves in favor of what is true and natural for human beings-which is to be united with others, which is to be creative, which is to be in service to their families and cultures in the world, to preserve the world, to take care of people, to be inspired and to have the glow of an inner life within themselves.” from The New Message by Marshall Vian Summers

[@julieann1975]

Thank you

[@johnchapman5125]

Thank you, B.

[@alwalw9237]

This passage fills me with great joy. How wonderful to know that each unselfish act really makes a difference. Superb!

[@jamiebrooks3973]

So we have Thembisa defending de Klerk and praising his effforts in ending apartheid, Kim - a black revolutionary in a white body and Lekota who said nothing meaningful. Kim for President...

[@mkhonzamlungelo8482]

Lekota said nothing he lost his political consciousness.

[@sbonisonkosenhle1498]

You wrong to say the last white president, you should've said last white apartheid SA. The idea that SA will never have a white president is wrong. Remember that SA now is a democracy

[@brutallyhonestguy660]

@American Infidel Rhodesia*

[@DirtyEdon]

@American Infidel they not even asking for white farmers now so keep dreaming

[@DirtyEdon]

@American Infidel no they actually want the EFF instead

[@SD_M9]

Which people will vote for that white president since SA is a "democracy?"

[@Bozewani]

ek lief suid afrika vryheid in South Africa ndiathanda Umazantsi Afrika usuku olunye ndihamba Ingiizmu Afirka usuku olunye ndiyahamab Umzantsi Afrika i love south africa peace in south africa

[@sinjhguddu4974]

May he rest in peace. His was a bold decision. And he was a far much better leader than what that country is having thus far.

[@marcspector9188]

without a doubt

[@jeffs4483]

It's still going strong in israel.

[@brutallyhonestguy660]

Cool 😎

[@TheGhost204]

Israel has nothing on Islamic countries.

[@alexvisser4542]

'To equate what is going on in Israel today with South Africa when South Africa was under Apartheid laws is a gift to Israel' Noam Chomski

[@Grigori1am]

We all know how duty can pressure u into action, how public opinion can affect ur decision but him being in the position of power made the call... thank you FW De Klerk, you were the key to our freedom.

[@gazroyalesrhodes2331]

An 'appology' is a good thing not so? Unlike Mugabe who had no regard for his own people whatsoever and yet was hailed as an African hero 😂

[@blackjournal1525]

Yep & he will always be one. Imagine how better of a president he could've been if he ain't have to deal with wight minority settlers trying to hold onto all the stolen wealth?

[@stevemasaki5295]

Zimbabwe is as it is now because of the sanctions imposed on it internationally after it tried to right the injustices that happened to it.

[@azaniashabari3891]

@@stevemasaki5295 tell these racist the truth

[@Farhan917]

@@azaniashabari3891 They do not care about the truth lol

[@azaniashabari3891]

@@Farhan917 so true

[@sadiashahid1706]

AN EXCELLENT DISCUSSION!!!

[@biteme7857]

Very fascinating episode.

[@nazabz1470]

As it is in south Afrikas so it is worldwide ws EVILS apartheid in different forms and styles**...

[@zakhelezwide1911]

Mr. Lekota said nothing here, I don't think he was supposed to be included. His issues with the ruling party have clouded his judgment.

[@pierrestewart6592]

Why are we still holding hate we as South Africans must learn to forgive and forget we are NOT i apartheid

[@snorkey2462]

White “SA” just inherited all that came with it.

[@gigi-vx8sy]

R.I.P MR De Klerk 🙏

[@capoislamort100]

These Afrikaners should’ve faced justice and punished accordingly.

[@Abdullatif-pj7wq]

Mandela was Greatest Man. I still miss Mandela.

[@Annie-ZA]

Me too! 😫😥

[@tfmkhonza5084]

If you knew Mandela

[@user-zn5fw4mv9e]

Mandela is a liar, he promised us freedom but he turned out to be worst than the previous party

[@ayazgultemirova246]

AL Ja...

[@misterbig9025]

South Africa was a much better nation before 1990!

[@javanx1254]

Once Said a racist man.

[@misterbig9025]

@@javanx1254 So?

[@mollypercocet7685]

If only he took his system with him that would have been better

[@errolbaptiste]

F.W. De Klerk missed an unique opportunity to apologise very early for implementing apartheid in his life before dying for crimes against humanity despite making a bold decision also avoiding civil war in South Africa.

[@gommabangani6441]

He doesn't say apartheid was wrong

[@orechchristopher18]

S.Africans must learn to forgive and forget, after all the man presided over transition from apartheid rule to a democracy under Nelson Mandela. Remember , apartheid rule was many centuries long system started by European settlers and Mr DeClark just inherited it, but fortunately it was dismantled during his time. So he deserves credit.

[@bhekisisam3018]

Black South Africans don't have to forgive him. De Klerk disrespected SA by saying Apartheid wasn't crime against humanity. The time to forgive and forget has passed. Blacks must get what was taken from them.

[@javanx1254]

We don't forget, we will never forgive what the minority whites did to our ancestors. We are squatters in our own land, white minority own 90% of land and assets. It's just a matter of time before a true revolution goes down. We are hibernating time will come when we stand.. how is it that a people of over 1.5 Billion don't have any representation on the security Council 🤔. Just chill we will take it all back.

[@omar403o7]

She gave me voice

[@tsiyanendlovubantu1689]

How can he be the last when the land/ Country is filled with their children/ generations😂😂😂. You are who your father is. Generations still generating😂😂😂. That's a great thing📖🔥🔥🔥

[@David_is_devil]

I think chinese will teach you culture, as you were @nimals you still are. Only ethiopeans stand among all africans, they are really cultured and respected people. And what you did with your freedom? Any economical change towards better? No! Everything that you touch are in ruins

[@henniebester9437]

Whites are 4% of the population, and shrinking fast because of family planning and emigration.

[@moumnaakhannouss6226]

😢🤝🙏❤️💙💚💛

[@balayethossainjoy1345]

🇿🇦🇧🇩I Love My South African Xhosa Wife and children More Then My Own Life Event I can't survive whiteout you Nocwaka Ngoqo

[@IAMDPP]

Long live the Zulu people, 💪🏾✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿

[@bozm9961]

RIP..for what it's worth...

[@barryleveson5895]

What the panelists fail to inform is that under apartheid, South Africa industrialised and that it is a consequence of the criminal corruption of the legacy liberation movement which has ruled for 28 years that it is being dismantled. The fault that South Africa has the widest discrency of wealth it now that of the ANC. De Klerk proved himself honourable, not so his successors.

[@stevemasaki5295]

I may argue that the industrialisation was due to the availability of cheap labour. Also, has industrialisation declined since the end of Apartheid?

[@barryleveson5895]

@@stevemasaki5295 Obviously the diminishing capacity of Eskom to produce power has the effect that the productive capacity of the country is reduced. In the immediate aftermath of apartheid, growth was registered. The reasons for that and the precipitous decline we now see remains to be analysed, but included in the factoring will be declining skills and cadre deployment. It was a noted phenomenon that relative deprivation accompanied industrialisation in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Also, that measures taken to control the industrial working class were coercive. In Britain, education was extended to the working class, where the object was to habituate the pupils to respond to the regulation of a bell as on the factory floor as also to equip them with basic literacy and numeracy, which they needed for the tasks they would perform in the industrial process. In South Africa 'Bantu Education' was introduced to provide for the first time a comprehensive education system for blacks across the country. It was beyond the capacity of missionary shools which had existed prior thereto to offer anything on that scale. Indeed, there were marked disparities between white and black education. Yet this was the path South Africa took in its development. I refer you to Gareth Stedman Jones' book Outcast London. In the nineteenth century the London working class was feared as a potential revolutionary class. Measures were proposed to control it, which included placing them into work camps similar to concentration camps. The working class was also considered recially distinct as well as racially deficient. Instead of placing them in work camps, they were moved out of central London to cheap housing from which they were enabled to commute to their jobs by means of the cheap workman's rail fare. It would seem under apartheid a similar 'solution' was found. In the 60s the government initiated massive shantytown clearances and established South Western Townships - Soweto, among other projects. It would be interesi to see comparison with these intiatives relative the apparently failed RDP program initiated post apartheid. While discrimination based on race is not defensible, apartheid was not merely Jim Crow. It certainly offended against the dignity of black, brown and Indian. For that FW de Klerk apologized. In my view, he did not need to go beyond that.

[@destinedforgreatnessinshallah]

May I remind you kind Sir that journalists who would dare report on the corruption and other misdeeds of the apartheid regime would end up missing. Have you heard of Eskom awarding businesses 50 year contracts prior to 1994? The discrepancy you speak of is due your beloved government's hateful practices against the mass population of the country.

[@bonolomakgatadeluent3150]

He said he is not sure about EFF mandate, maybe actionSA 😂😂

[@castromicheal3614]

Likota resign please

[@siphesihlemqiniseni3013]

Well articulated kim😘😘😘

[@henniebester9437]

Kim also thinks Zuma is some kind of hero LOL ...

[@sadiq_akbar_taranwal]

Congrats to everyone who is early And who found this comment 👏 ❤..

[@sadiq_akbar_taranwal]

Claim your .. i'M a True fan - ticket here ❤..

[@luai154]

🙂 Nothing new happen to me still 🔥💪🔥

[@funDAYsmiling]

South Africa might’ve had a possible future as its traditional role as “economic leader of African,” but the EFC, and AFC opened their Northern borders to all of Africa.

[@mmmsky5908]

Do you like this video 👈👈

[@JohanKilian-fv8vp]

Veraaier

[@expand9487]

African choose their president based on how the person behaves and not what that person is capable of.

[@krugerfuchs]

Traitor

[@donnaking4567]

Bye bye old colonizer

[@nothingbutthetruth3592]

Kim represented us well here. The Professor lost me when he said that the EFF is not growing but rather hands should be given to ActionSA (a city based party) that didn't even won a Municipality. As for Lekota, haha mxm.

[@henniebester9437]

AcrionSA understands how an economy works, unlike the occultic clowns of the EFF.

[@stopdeforestation]

This is the only anchor on AJ I refuse to watch. He's got creepy eyes, he grunts when guests talk, he's rude. Put him behind the camera instead. I thumbs down any video he is on.

[@lavelmoonga8882]

What are these two black men talking about? Tata Lekota you are tired, rest! Kim is point on, not knowing if she means what she says.

[@marumokitime3771]

She's been on this crusade that she even lost business and being unreasonable due to her bluntly analysis of South African political analysis. Search her interviews here on KZbin, she even went as far as to write a book about apartheid era and the democratic South Africa.

[@onthusitsebaikakedi6688]

May his soul rest in eternal peace,but ,lest we forget his deeds.

[@MsRalph56]

Rest in peace.. I hope hes up there with nelson Mandela in heaven .

[@ericgermany2k432]

Who care nonsense….