![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Yes, De Klerk freed Nelson Mandela, but how many people were left behind? How many people were forced into exile, never to return to their families? The Sharpville Massacre, The Soweto Uprising (where Black students were murdered for protesting the racial discrimination in their schools), and the murders of Steve Biko, David Sibeko, Victoria Mxenge, Chris Hani and so many more deaths are the reasons why apartheid fell. Black South African activists, to be more specific. While SA based publication The Sowetan echoed Ahmed's argument, further daring to conclude that De Klerk 'deserves' a state funeral as, "Tata Madiba, Nelson Mandela, taught us the gospel of reconciliation and forgiveness and it would, therefore, be a kind gesture from our president to bestow De Klerk with an honor of a state funeral."į.W De Klerk was not an honorable leader, and he did not end apartheid - Black South Africans did. The Globalist made sure to mention that, " De Klerk had the courage to take a bold decision with gigantic risks" and that they, "suspect that in the fullness of time, history will judge De Klerk favorably." The Globe and Mail's Riedwaan Ahmed said that De Klerk's final apology and farewell, "brought him to tears", as he decided that forgiving De Klerk was what Mandela would've wanted us all to do. Now that he's died, the media seems to be making attempts to upgrade his legacy.Ĭalls to forgive De Klerk and "liberate ourselves from the prison of bitterness", according to The Daily Maverick, fall short when you remember that he ordered the brutal murders of The Cradock 4 and refused to give their families peace of mind. At no point during my years of learning about apartheid in school was F.W De Klerk painted as the grand-master champ of ending it. I was not born into the struggle but experienced the ramifications of putting a bandaid over a systemic, political, and social-sized bullet hole. I was born into a two-year-old democracy in 1996, and grew up as a ' Born Free '. And the rest is (a painful, greedy, unthinkable) history. After the "success" of the referendum, the late, great Nelson Mandela and his party, the African National Congress (ANC), took over the land after winning South Africa's first-ever democratic election, held in 1994. We are forever grateful to the 69% that voted yes, while silently, innocently hoping that the 31% that voted no have seen their last days. The NP (National Party) terrorized South Africa for close to 50 years, only "successfully" being taken down by a referendum in 1992 where white South Africans (only) were asked if they agreed with the government's plan to phase out the apartheid regime. The National Party's apartheid regime was a time in South Africa where your life, well-being, and identity were decided for you, and determined by the color of your skin. Last week, a rare form of cancer took down former South African apartheid president F.W De Klerk at age 85, and the reactions from South Africans (and the world) have been as controversial as the former politician's life. Why is "Don't speak ill of the dead" something we as a society subscribe to? Who's going to complain? The dead? ![]()
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