Mounting criticism has seemingly forced South Africa’s former President FW de Klerk to withdraw his statement that refused to equate the policy of apartheid to crimes against humanity.
Anti-apartheid icon Desmond Tutu had said the comments did not account for the impact the policy of apartheid had on the lives of its victims, and called on him to withdraw the comments.
A statement from Mr De Klerk’s foundation on Facebook said he agreed with Mr Tutu, adding “this is not the time to quibble about the degrees of unacceptability of apartheid. It was totally unacceptable”.
It goes on to say that the foundation supports the definition of apartheid as explained in the Rome statute in 1998 which defines apartheid as a crime against humanity:
“The FW de Klerk Foundation supports this provision. It can also be seen as the legislative expression of Nelson Mandela’s statement during his inaugural address that “never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another.”
Mr De Klerk had defended his earlier comments on apartheid when he spoke to the BBC last week.
