EFF REJECTS FW DE KLERK’S ‘HOLLOW’ APOLOGY
BELEAGUERED apartheid-era president FW de Klerk has withdrawn and apologised for his statement that apartheid was not a crime against humanity following calls for him to face an inquest.
The EFF, which staged a protest against De Klerk during the State of the Nation address (Sona) on Thursday, has rejected his apology as hollow.
In a statement yesterday De Klerk, via his foundation, apologised for the remark.
“I have taken note of the vehement reaction to our response to the EFF’s attack on me at the State of the Nation address on Thursday night.
“I agree with the Desmond and Leah Tutu Foundation that this is not the time to quibble about the degrees of unacceptability of apartheid. It was totally unacceptable. The FW de Klerk Foundation has accordingly decided to withdraw its statement of February 14 unconditionally and apologises for the confusion, anger and hurt that it has caused.”
In that statement, the foundation had defended De Klerk, saying that “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”.
De Klerk had made the initial remarks on apartheid during an SABC interview marking the release of Nelson Mandela from prison 30 years ago.
De Klerk had told former president Thabo Mbeki during the Sona that he was not aware that apartheid was a crime against humanity.
Despite this, De Klerk’s foundation defended him in its Friday statement.
The ANC, the Desmond and Leah Tutu Foundation, the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the SA Council of Churches were among individuals and organisations joining the EFF in condemning De Klerk’s statement and calling for him to withdraw it.
In apologising, the foundation said yesterday: “The FW de Klerk Foundation remains deeply committed to national reconciliation and to the achievement of the foundational values on which the foundation is based – including human dignity, the achievement of equality, the advancement of human rights and freedoms; non-racialism and non-sexism, the supremacy of the Constitution and the rule of law and a genuine multiparty system of democratic governance.”
However, the EFF said that the time for empty apologies in South Africa was over. “We reject the apology as one that lacks sincerity and relevance, as the individual who was the source of these hateful views remains unrepentant on his comments and avoids accountability by using a foundation that bears his name,” the red berets said.
The party reiterated its calls for De Klerk to face an inquest for “all his crimes and all those he was complicit in”.
“That he lied to former president
Thabo Mbeki and faked ignorance of the UN declaration on apartheid is a sign of mockery by a man who has justified his views and refuses to accept his role in the deepening of colonialism and anti-black racism in this country.
“He must be ostracised from the project of new and equal South Africa and have all the privileges afforded to him as a former leader of the state stripped. The state De Klerk led collapsed, so must all the respect he is afforded,” said the party.
The Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation were not convinced that a foundation that is member of the the National Foundations Dialogue Initiative (NFDI), a grouping of foundations dedicated in part to reconciliation, should even question the inhumanity of a repressive system like apartheid.
Sello Hatang, chief executive
“We have to do anything to continue to engage those kind of forces Sello Hatang Nelson Mandela Foundation
of the Mandela foundation, said that while they welcomed the apology, the statement was one of the many that does not take the country anywhere in terms of nation building and the reconciliation path paved by Mandela.
“Now in terms of engaging with the FW de Klerk Foundation, we believe that the only way forward, the rise of racism and the rise of the denial of crimes such as apartheid is something that we are seeing progressing and I think we have to do anything to continue to engage those kind of forces,” Hatang said.
Neeshan Balton of the Kathrada Foundation said despite the apology, they still needed to talk to the foundation more especially on its understanding of the country’s history. “The foundations who are part of that initiative do need to engage with the De Klerk Foundation on its understanding of history and its understanding of apartheid and its effects on the majority of the people of this country,” Balton said.