[imagesource: Esa Alexander]

It hasn’t been a great week or so for FW de Klerk.

For the majority of South Africans, his legacy is one of oppression, despite the fact that he shared the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize 1993 with Nelson Mandela “for their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime”.

27 years later, and 30 years after Mandela was released from prison, de Klerk was interviewed on SABC News ahead of the State of the Nation address last week.

One answer, in particular, was torn apart, and shows a staggering lack of basic historical knowledge and awareness from the former president:

This is what the former president of apartheid government De Klerk said during his recent interview. The EFF are now against his presence in a democratic parliament. #SONA2020 pic.twitter.com/xjf3ROsz42

— Thibos (@ThibosAfrika) February 13, 2020

The EFF was always going to try their utmost to disrupt SONA, but Pravin Gordhan was knocked down to public enemy number two from the moment de Klerk arrived in Parliament to watch President Ramaphosa’s address.

You can watch the chanting, disruptions, and general farcical nature of last week’s SONA here.

De Klerk’s unwillingness to admit that apartheid was a crime against humanity is particularly galling when you consider that – wait for it – the UN General Assembly labelled apartheid a crime against humanity back in 1966.

The Assembly made that decision based on the fact that the crime met two key elements – it was “widespread” and “systematic”.

According to Thabo Mbeki, that somehow slipped under FW’s radar. This from TimesLIVE:

“We were sitting next to each other in parliament, I asked him about that [De Klerk’s comments that apartheid was not a crime against humanity].

“What transpires, is that he actually did not know that there is a convention declaring apartheid a crime against humanity,” Mbeki said…

“He said to me he had been asked a question, and he had said apartheid was reprehensible, he apologised for the bad things that had happened but he was making a very narrow comment,” said Mbeki, recalling his conversation with De Klerk.

“He did not know that there is a legal document in international law which says apartheid was a crime against humanity. I want to send him the convention, so that he knows that there is an international convention which says apartheid is a crime against humanity. That is how we discussed it,” he said.

My, how convenient that is for ol’ F-dubs (as the kids might call FW).

In the wake of being called out, rather than acknowledge this glaring historical oversight (it’s kind of the least he could do), the FW de Klerk Foundation came out and labelled the notion that apartheid is a crime against humanity “soviet agitprop” – essentially, propaganda meant to agitate.

Some standout quotes via News24:

“The idea that apartheid was ‘a crime against humanity’ was, and remains, an ‘agitprop’ project initiated by the Soviets and their ANC/SACP allies to stigmatise white South Africans by associating them with genuine crimes against humanity – which have generally included totalitarian repression and the slaughter of millions of people,” read the statement.

According to the foundation, some 23 000 people died in South Africa’s political violence between 1960 and 1994 – of who fewer than 5 000 were killed by the security forces.

“Most of the rest of the deaths occurred in the conflict between the IFP and the ANC.”

“None of this is meant to whitewash the injustices that were undoubtedly committed under apartheid.

“However, we need a balanced understanding of the past – not one based on a simplistic black/white, good/evil framework – but on a framework that reflects the infinite shades of grey that actually characterise history.”

Being forced to carry a dompas in your own country, being denied basic human rights, being forcibly removed from your home and displaced – the list goes on.

I guess it boils down to the only reason the FW de Klerk Foundation thinking that apartheid wasn’t a crime against humanity, is because they don’t see black South Africans as humans.

Of course, all of this just plays into the hands of the likes of the ANC and the EFF, who can now (rightfully) act morally outraged whilst committing daily crimes against the people of South Africa.

The ANC have looted and plundered for a generation now, and the EFF quite literally stole the life savings of those who stashed their money with VBS Bank, but that’s back page news.

Instead, we’re talking about the failings of an 83-year-old man to take responsibility for his part in aiding and abetting crimes against humanity.

What an odd hill to die on for FW.

[sources:timeslive&news24]