South Africa’s last apartheid president F. W. de Klerk dies
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OSLO (NORWAY) – 10 DECEMBER 1993: Nelson Mandela, F.W. South African President de Klerk received the Nobel Peace Prize on 10/12/93 at Oslo’s City Hall, Oslo, Norway.
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F.W. F.W.
De Klerk, who had been fighting cancer at home in Fresnaye in Cape Town, died on Thursday. A spokesperson for F.W. On Thursday, the de Klerk Foundation confirmed this.
De Klerk was the one who announced Mandela’s release from South Africa’s prison cell after 27 years. An entire country, long condemned and supported by many for the brutal system of racial discrimination called apartheid for years, was electrified when de Klerk made this announcement.
De Klerk announced the removal of the ban against the African National Congress (and other anti-apartheid groups) in the same speech, as South Africa was becoming more isolated and its economy is deteriorating.
As the speaker spoke, several parliament members fled the room.
Mandela was free nine days later.
Mandela, the country’s first ever black president was elected four years later.
Mandela and de Klerk were both awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 1993, in recognition of their often-tense cooperation to move South Africa away form institutionalized racism toward democracy.
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