Things To Know About Last Apartheid President, FW De Klerk

The former President of South Africa, FW De Klerk died on Thursday aged .  DE Klerk according to information died after a battle with cancer. The deceased had announced his diagnosis on his 85th birthday, on March 18 this year. However, there are four things you must know about the former president.

Birth place

F. W. de Klerk was born on March 18, 1936, in Mayfair, a suburb of Johannesburg. His parents were Johannes “Jan” de Klerk and Hendrina Cornelia Coetzer. He was born in the economic hub of Johannesburg, into a family of Afrikaners, a white ethnic group descended mainly from Dutch colonisers, his father was a leading apartheid senator who served briefly as interim president.

Last white President

De Klerk was South Africa’s last white president. He and South Africa’s first black president, Nelson Mandela, shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for leading the “miracle” transition from white rule in the country.

Lifted ban on ANC

He is most remembered for his famous speech delivered on February 2, 1990, announcing the lifting of a ban on the African National Congress,  ANC, and other liberation movements. In the same speech, he ordered the release of anti-apartheid icon Mandela, from prison after 27 years in jail.

He was a lawyer

He studied law, before being elected to parliament as a member of the National Party that instituted apartheid. De Klerk then held several ministerial positions before he became president in 1989, a position he held until he handed over the reins of affairs to Mandela after the first democratic elections in 1994.

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