Very Recent History: The End of Apartheid

The Independent talks to former South African President F.W. de Klerk. Twenty years ago today de Klerk delivered an opening address to Parliament. “When he sat down 30 minutes later, the ANC and 30 other political parties, including the Communist Party, had been unbanned unconditionally; the death penalty was suspended; the state of emergency was lifted; trade unions were allowed to function freely; all political prisoners were to be released immediately and restrictions on political exiles were lifted; and, perhaps most importantly of all, de Klerk opened the way for South Africa’s first fully democratic election in 300 years by promising ‘a totally new and just constitutional dispensation in which every inhabitant will enjoy equal rights, treatment and opportunity’.”