1/ I once had a confrontation with FW de Klerk
He’d come to Borders bookshop on Oxford St in 1999 to promote his new autobiography
After he’d finished his mini speech about how he’d saved South Africa he asked if there were any questions
I was in the front row
My hand shot up
2/. Before I go on, I should say that me & FW had a bit of history
I'd been an anti-apartheid activist since my school days in the 1980s
After university, when the ANC were unbanned, I’d flown to South Africa to work for them
I stayed until after the election victory in 1994.
3/ I should also say that I'd spent a few lunchtimes in the bookshop near my office skimming FW's autobiography & doing some research into his background
After all, you don't rise to the top of the deeply racist National Party in the 1980's without being a bit of racist yourself
4/. So FW opens the floor to questions & sees me front of him, hand raised
He nods towards to me
"Mr de Klerk," I say calmly. "I was very interested reading your book, not so much by what you said, but by what you chose not to say"
On my lap I have a note with 6 bullet points.
5/. I proceeded to go through his ignominious 20 year political career, point-by-point
A career that spanned the Soweto uprisings & the 1980s State of Emergencies during which he'd forcefully supported apartheid
All of which he had somehow managed to omit from his autobiography
6/. As I went through each of my points I felt my anger build
By the time I got to the final one - the fact that FW de Klerk had known about the murderous activities of the Third Force which had continued right up until the day before the 1994 elections - I was shaking with rage
7/. I finished my question & sat back
An very British silence descended
"Oh my! How disrespectful to speak to a Nobel Prize winner in that way!"
What happened next, took me by surprise
Whilst I'll always view FW as an opportunist & racist, I gained a certain respect for him
8/. Completely calm & looking me in the eyes he went through each of my 6 points in the order in which I had put them
He rebutted each one
Whilst I still believe l won the battle 5-1, a neutral might have put it down as a score draw
But what was clear was his steel-trap mind.
9/. FW de Klerk continued to be an apartheid apologist
Last year he told SABC that "the idea that apartheid was a crime against humanity was & remains an agitprop project initiated by the Soviets & their ANC/SACP allies to stigmatize white South Africans”
10/. Whilst FW de Klerk’s role in helping to end apartheid must be recognised, Mandela puts it well here in 1990
“The ANC ought never to have been banned. We ought never to have been sent to prison. The state of emergency ought never to have been imposed”
11/. POSTSCRIPT: Googling FW de Klerk's book tour, I found our clash was written up by his editor(!) in the @Independent!
"The first questioner, a very intense young man who was shaking like a leaf & seemed to have a set of notes, started denouncing FW"😂
independent.co.uk/arts-entertain…
12/. FW’s editor describes me here as a “nervous activist”
I wasn’t nervous. I was angry
Angry that this man was sitting in my local bookshop in London attempting to gaslight people into believing he & Mandela had stood shoulder-to-shoulder in the fight against apartheid
Eish!
13/. “Forgiveness liberates the soul, it removes fear....Reconciliation does not mean forgetting or trying to bury the pain of conflict, but working together to correct the legacy of past injustice” (Nelson Mandela 1995)
@Jay_Naidoo on FW de Klerk’s death
dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/20…
14/. There will be “a state memorial” for FW de Klerk on Sunday
After his death, @PearlThusi said: “we must disrupt that funeral if it is declared a state funeral” & @EFFSouthAfrica vowed to take to the streets
Will a state “memorial” rouse the same fury?
#fwdeklerk #BREAKING
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