The last white apartheid President of South Africa F.W De Klerk offered an apology to South Africans without qualification for the misery caused by apartheid.
The apology was shared in a video form by the F.W. De Klerk Foundation. He said, ” I’m still often accused by critics that I in some way or another continue to justify apartheid or separate development, it is true that in my younger years I defended separate development as I never liked the word apartheid.”
He continued, “I did so as a member of parliament and when I became a member of cabinet, afterwards on many occasions I apologised for the pain and indignity that apartheid has brought to persons of colour in South Africa.”
He went further to say, “many believed me but others didn’t therefore let me today in the last message repeat, “I without qualification apologise for the pain and the hurt and the indignity and the damage to black, brown and Indians in South Africa.”
He said he was apologising not only in his capacity as the former leader of the National Party but also as an individual. He said his views about apartheid changed in the early 1980s.
De Klerk added that he realised in his heart that apartheid was wrong and morally unjustifiable. He said he ensured that negotiations and a new dispensation were ushered in during his term as President.
He also said he was proud of the constitution which was brought together during negotiations. De Klerk however did not say anything about the deaths of anti-apartheid activists.
