F.W. de Klerk had to abandon what his ancestors had believed in
The last president of apartheid South Africa died on November 11th, aged 85
TO MAKE THE close acquaintance of F.W. de Klerk was to look into the face of a voortrekker. Although he had been comfortably brought up in suburban Johannesburg, his blue eyes still seemed to stare across the veld and the mountains the Afrikaner volk had crossed on the Great Trek in the 19th century. And his set jaw seemed ready to declare, as he often did, the blunt-but-courteous words: “You are wrong.”
This article appeared in the Obituary section of the print edition under the headline “Builder and dismantler”
Obituary November 20th 2021
From the November 20th 2021 edition
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