Social media has been flooded with mixed emotions following the passing of former Apartheid president Frederick William de Klerk.
Condolences poured in for De Klerk who died due to cancer in his Cape Town home yesterday.
He served as former deputy president under Nelson Mandela’s one-term presidency. Parliament is among those who praised De Klerk’s leadership as he ushered in democracy in South Africa.
President Cyril Ramaphosa says although the party he led cannot be remembered for good, De Klerk took a different path. Many media outlets described De Klerk as a peacemaker.
The Ahmad Kathrada and Desmond Tutu Foundations took a different stance, joining those who say the 85-year-old had not taken sufficient accountability for the atrocities committed during his and his predecessors’ reign.
Some felt that a ‘state funeral’ would be a slap in the face of the millions of non-white families devastated by the Apartheid regime and who continue to suffer its consequences.
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