fw de klerk STATE MEMORIAL MOURNING

Image credit: Flickr/Richter Frank-Jurgen

Watch: FW De Klerk says SA is most unequal country in the world [video]

The 83-year-old apartheid-era President addressed the Cape Town Press Club on Wednesday afternoon.

fw de klerk STATE MEMORIAL MOURNING

Image credit: Flickr/Richter Frank-Jurgen

The apartheid-area stateman said that there is a double standard in South African when it comes to the handling of racial issues, as well as an “escalation of aggressive racial rhetoric punctuated by ugly incidents.”

He cited the recent “victimiasion of a young teacher in Schweizer-Reneke” as an example. Bertram Malgas from Eyewitness News reported that De Klerk had been “out of the public eye for months due to health concerns.”

Addressing the crowd, De Klerk said: “South Africa is a more unequal society in 2018 that it was in 1994. And to our shame, is now the most unequal country in the world. Inequality has also grown within all our communities.”

He added that there was no balance in the way racist remarks and incidents are judged. He also referred to the “foolish and unacceptable remarks by one non-entity” which were treated far more harshly than “incendiary remarks from political leaders openly calling for racial violence.” De Klerk did not mention names.

That said, he believes that if South Africans had not “made the decision to transform in 1990,” our country would have headed towards a civil war. De Klerk said it was his privilege to announce at the time that South Africa would change forever.

He said the South African government had abandoned the “great tradition of promoting racial reconciliation that was exemplified by Nelson Mandela.”

When asked if he still maintains contact with his presidential counterparts, he joked, “excluding Zuma, yes.”

“I’ve had always an open relationship with President Mandela, with President Mbeki and I still have it. And I hope to build a positive relationship with President Ramaphosa.”

Reactions to his speech

Netizens took to Twitter and shared their opinions. A user known only as Embrace Wealth said it sounds like “we were borrowed the country by our oppressors and now they will assess how blacks have done.” He added:

“Actually we never had the country, only limited freedom of movement as previously white-only burbs got boomed. Elaborate baas de Klerk.”

Khutšo Bapela said it makes no sense for a “whole apartheid president [to be] assessing South Africa’s progress post-apartheid,” while ‏another succinctly added: “We no longer have space for this murderer.”

Watch: FW De Klerk addressing the audience the Cape Town Press Club