FW de Klerk orders the release of anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela after 27 years in prison.
Johannesburg:
South Africa’s last white president, FW de Klerk, died on Thursday at the age of 85, his foundation announced.
De Klerk and South Africa’s first black president Nelson Mandela shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for leading a “miracle” transition from white rule in the country.
His foundation said in a statement that he passed away after a battle with cancer.
De Klerk announced his diagnosis on March 18 this year on his 85th birthday.
“It is with great sadness that the F.W. de Klerk Foundation must announce that former President F.W. de Klerk has passed away peacefully this morning at his home in Fresnay after a struggle against mesothelioma cancer.”
He is survived by wife Alita, children Jan and Susan and grandchildren.
“The family will make an announcement at an appropriate time regarding arrangements for the funeral,” he said.
He is best remembered for his famous speech on February 2, 1990, which announced the lifting of sanctions on the African National Congress (ANC) and other liberation movements.
In the same speech, he ordered the release of anti-apartheid symbol Mandela from prison after spending 27 years in prison.
Born into a family of Afrikaners, a white ethnic group mainly descended from Dutch colonists, in the economic center of Johannesburg, his father was a prominent apartheid senator who served for some time as interim president.
He studied law before being elected to parliament as a member of the national party that founded apartheid.
De Klerk served in several ministerial positions before appearing in 1989, a position until he handed over governance to Mandela after the first democratic elections in 1994.
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