Former South African president dies at 85

FW de Klerk, South Africa’s last white president, died Thursday, November 11, 2021 at the age of 85, his founding announced.

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

He died of a battle with cancer, his foundation said in a statement.
De Klerk announced his diagnosis on his 85th birthday, March 18 of this year.

It is with the greatest sadness that the FW de Klerk Foundation must announce that former President FW de Klerk passed away peacefully at his home in La Fresnaye earlier this morning following his battle with mesothelioma cancer ”, a- he declared.

He is survived by his wife Elita, his children Jan and Susan and his grandchildren.
“The family will make an announcement regarding the funeral arrangements in due course,” he added.

He is best known for his famous speech on February 2, 1990, announcing the lifting of the ban on the African National Congress (ANC) and other liberation movements.
In the same speech, he ordered the release from prison of anti-apartheid icon Mandela after 27 years in prison.
Born in the economic center of Johannesburg to a family of Afrikaners, a white ethnic group descended mainly from Dutch colonizers, his father was a prominent apartheid senator who briefly served as interim president.

He studied law before being elected to parliament as a member of the National Party which instituted apartheid.
De Klerk went on to hold a number of ministerial posts before becoming present in 1989, a post he held until he handed over the reins to Mandela after the first democratic elections in 1994.