Frederik Willem de Klerk
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F.W. de Klerk served as the last president of apartheid South Africa from 1989 to 1994 and won the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize alongside Nelson Mandela for dismantling racial segregation. Born in Johannesburg in 1936, he studied at Potchefstroom University. De Klerk appeared in documentaries such as Countdown to Zero and Influence. He died of mesothelioma in Cape Town in 2021.
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F.W. de Klerk — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Born on 18 March 1936 in Johannesburg, South Africa, to Corrie Coetzer and Johannes de Klerk, a cabinet minister. His brother Wimpie also entered politics. De Klerk grew up in an Afrikaans-speaking family active in the National Party. He attended Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, now North-West University, where he earned a law degree.
De Klerk entered parliament in 1972 as a member of the National Party and held several cabinet posts, including Minister of Education and Minister of Energy, before becoming president in 1989. As president, he unbanned the African National Congress and released Nelson Mandela from prison in 1990. He negotiated the end of apartheid, leading to South Africa’s first multiracial elections in 1994. For these efforts, he and Mandela were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. After leaving office, de Klerk appeared in documentaries such as Panorama 1953 and Countdown to Zero 2010, discussing his role in the transition.
De Klerk was married twice. His first wife Marike bore him three children; they divorced in 1998. In 1999, he married businesswoman Elita Georgiades. He stayed close to his brother Wimpie, a political commentator. A fluent Afrikaans speaker, de Klerk died of mesothelioma on 11 November 2021 in Cape Town.
De Klerk chose negotiation over resistance, earning the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize alongside Nelson Mandela. He also received the Philadelphia Liberty Medal and the Princess of Asturias Award. As the last apartheid leader, he handed over power after the 1994 elections. His role in transitioning South Africa to multiracial democracy remains a reference in peace studies.
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The Question That We Must Ask Is Whether We Are Making Progress Toward the Goal of Universal Peace. or Are We Caught up on a Treadmill of History, Turning Forever on the Axle of Mindless Aggression and Self Destruction?
I Have Made the Most Profound Apology in Front of the Truth Commission and on Other Occasions About the Injustices Which Were Wrought by Apartheid.
Above All, We Owe It to the Children of the World to Stop the Conflicts and to Create New Horizons for Them.
In Our Quest for Peace, We Should Constantly Ask Ourselves What We Should Do to Create Conditions in Which Peace Can Prosper.
I Believe That First Impressions Are Very Important.
The Relationship Between Me and President Mandela Right at the Beginning Was Not a Very Well Established Relationship. It Was Based on Two Meetings.
President Mandela Was Not a Hands on President at Any Time.
For Many Years, I Supported the Concept of Separate States.
I Felt a Sense of Fulfillment That an Action Plan, Which I’d Laid on the Table on the 2Nd of February 1990, Had Been Fulfilled, Had Been Properly Implemented Within the Time Frame Which I Envisaged.
You Cannot Say We Are a Healthy, Dynamic Democracy When One Party Wins Almost Two Thirds of the Vote.
When I Talk About the End of Apartheid, I Prefer Not to Claim the Honor That I Have Ended It.
It Was Fortunate in Looking Back for South Africa and Its Entire People That Mandela and I Found It Possible to Work Together Even Though Big Strains Developed Between Us from Time to Time.
I Played an Integral Part in Helpings Formulating That New Vision… That We Must Abandon Apartheid and Accept One United South Africa with Equal Rights for All, with All Forms of Discrimination to Be Scrapped from the Statute Book.
What I Haven’t Apologised for Is the Original Concept of Seeking to Bring Justice to All South Africans Through the Concept of Nation States.
It Was an Honour for Me to Have Been Able to Work with Mr. Mandela in the Process That Led to the Adoption of the Interim Constitution and Our First Democratic Elections in April 1994.
My Predecessor, P. W. Botha, Had an Inner Circle, and I Did Not Like It. I Preferred Decisions to Evolve Out of Cabinet Discussions. That Way, We Achieved Real Co Ownership of Our Policies.
The ANC Party from Time to Time Comes with Legislation Which, If Accepted and If Not Nullified by the Constitution of Court, Would Have the Effect of Undermining the Constitution and Eroding Its Values.
The Government That Came into Power After the April 1994 Elections Was Going to Need a Budget. It Was Drafted by Our Finance Minister, Derek Keys, and He Convinced Them of the Necessity to Stay Within the Free Market Principles That Had Been in Force in South Africa for Decades.
When I First Met Mandela, We Did Not Discuss Anything of Substance; We Just Felt Each Other Out. He Spent a Long Time Expressing His Admiration for the Boer Generals and How Ingenious They Were During the Anglo Boer War.
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Served as the last President of South Africa during the apartheid regime, from 1989 to 1994.
Jointly received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 with Nelson Mandela for the peaceful end of apartheid.
Appeared as himself in the 2010 documentary Countdown to Zero about nuclear disarmament.
Was born into a political family; his father Johannes de Klerk served as a cabinet minister and his brother Wimpie de Klerk was a newspaper editor and politician.
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