The unrepentant face of white South Africans

For FW de Klerk, political reforms and reconciliation was never about moral intention, but always about political strategy. That’s the view of acclaimed author Antjie Krog who argues that the Nobel Laureate has become the failed unrepentant face of white people. In a News24 analysis, Krog notes that when De Klerk appeared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, he did not have any moral intention or any kind of visionary ethical lodestar whatsoever. ‘His release of Nelson Mandela and unbanning of the ANC a few years before, were not embedded in any clear recognition of the utter wrong that apartheid was, but was plain and simple smart political strategy. Although it may be all that one can expect from a politician, the consequence of his behaviour has been profoundly influencing us up until today. Most white people do not believe that apartheid or colonialism were horribly corrupt and deeply destructive; it was wrong and unforgivable. Raised on the brackish water of the Dopper Kerk, educated in the white sinews of Potchefstroom, tamely drifting his way upwards among the bullies and crooks of the National Party, De Klerk keeps on stepping into contemporary South African spaces like a man void of senses and communal radar. And as always, it is about strategy and never about the morally right thing to do. Every act of his is legally hedged – this time, perhaps, to avoid the International Criminal Court in The Hague which investigates genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and aggression.’