INDEED both deserve praise, HOWEVER, this is what we call labour pains, when a child is about to be born, it chooses its moment, and birth cannot be postposted or stopped, it will be borne, that's exactly what ideologies are like, and they have a shelf life and expiry date
Lee-Ann Van Der Byl No Bob, De Klerk realized that a civil war was eminent, and he had no choice. But its that realization of De Klerk, that it was time to hand over power, and support the notion of Mandela(a black president) the question was would it be a peaceful handover? It was, and that's what De Klerk can be accorded, he behaved properly, and assisted in the transition being peaceful for all of us. Or our country would have been engulfed in rivers of blood. But no, white power was a dying horse that couldn't be held onto.
You were a better President than the rejects that we now have to tolerate. RIP my President. My heart truly aches. I would have wanted you to be around for the upcoming milestone that the Lord is preparing for South Africans. This is a great loss. Sincere condolences to his family, relatives and friends.
Anyone who genuinely believes in the 2nd amendment of the US constitution would support Mandella's actions. For 49 YEARS (1912-1961) the ANC protested peacefully using only striking action and public marches. When a tyrannical government makes all legal means of resistance to opression illegal then you are within your human right to use force.
Alex Mackay I agree with you but here’s the problem with Nelson Mandela he killed a lot of innocent people he was a terrorist that harmed innocent people do you know many people the ANC necklaced? I do agree that when you make peaceful resistance illegal you have to use force The ANC and Nelson Mandela Used it the wrong way
That's a lie ANC was protesting peacefully all the time. First of all, the African National Congress haves its own armed military wing called uMkhonto we Sizwe or MK for short, second the Soviet Union actually funded the African National Congress and the South African Communist Party or SACP during the Cold War, because they are against the pro-US National Party (yeah they are under international pressure and economic sanction but one time the US helped the Apartheid regime simply because they could be useful anti-Communist bulwarks), third, members of the ANC we're actually invited to Vietnam to observe how the Viet Cong utilizes Mao Zedong's "people's war" military doctrine.
The youth have a great feeling of entitlement. I was told this by a friend who happens to be black. Why it exists is probably because the stories might be such that there are a lot of what ifs? in the minds of the youth. Ultimately it is a desire for a better future but with people like Malema around it's a dangerous thing.
When your required to be BEE compliant for a university level programming challenge that just takes the micky. Your proffession and skills should depend on merit not skin colour or gender. There are people with dark skin who feel the same way!
Whether de Klerk agrees with segregation or not doesn't matter, he is the past. The future of SA is a UNITED SA, we use the failures of the past to build on a better future. We need to stay together and build a trust and respect for each other, that will travel down the generations. We should never rely on some government to do this for us. We need to do it as a people. At the end of the day, in SA it's all South African people that matter, not some power-driven politician.
As far as I know...The only one to not agree to homelands was Buthelezi, he wanted to be in South Africa. It was also a case that Zulu Land was more spread out. I may be entirely wrong but this is how I have heard it.
Apartheid was wrong yes, but all nationalities and races has learned out of this to avoid discrimination. Dont appoint some one in a position because of his/her skin collar, but according to heart, character, qualification for the roll needed, cause that is what builds and bind a nation to work together, bringing out the best out of your country.
In lots of cases, there was much less chaos then, than now, on lots of cases it is illustrated that the white man in whole was pro apartheid, while there was actual a lot of white people wishing for unity and made their efforts, and those that did not, did not because of security. I mean try and boycott any government and you will feel the consequences. Even though there was discrimination against different races, which I agree is wrong, there was at least justice and fairness in the industry.
As a white South African born into the apartheid system and born from English family background. I saw the rascist attitude of the Afrikaner. I was never rascist and neither were my family. The Afrikaners were very rascist toward the English speaking fraternity and understandably so because of what the English did to the Afrikaners (Boers) during the Boer war, putting the children and women in concentration camps, feeding them crushed glass in the food and burning the homesteads. The children and women had nowhere to go and had to wander in the veld where they were killed by wild animals. I never did this to an Afrikaner, this happened long before I was born. The Afrikaners perpetrated horrific crimes against the black peoples of South Africa, paying very low wages on farms and reinterpreting the bible to say that black people are not human beings but animals. The white people of English heritage were not hated by the black peoples like the Boers. The black peoples also had their own intertribal rascism and perpetrated horrific crimes on each other such as necklacing where they put car tyres over a persons shoulders and doused them in petrol and burned them alive. Nelson Mandelas wife Winnie Mandela advocated and even encouraged this type of brutal violence on other black peoples. The division was between white and white, white and black and black and black. Black peoples who travel from countries like Zambia and Zimbabwe are at risk of violence because they are seen to be taking jobs from locals. My grandmothers sister was 80 years old and was brutally tortured and murdered on a farm, she was found tied to a chair with evidence of torture and had an axe buried in her skull. She was a frail old lady. I have the greatest respect for Nelson Mandela and want South Africa to take his views on board and live into his vision of a non racial, non sexist democratic South Africa. Sadly South Africa is fast deteriorating under corrupt rule. Laws around black economic empowerment put many unqualified peoples in jobs who are not suited to those jobs based on the colour of their skin, and those businesses are crashing. We need to learn to accept each other and strive for the good of all regardless of colour, or crede or history will continue to repeat itself.
Bruce Munton I agree with your conclusion and future perspectives. But the Britsh were always chasing the boers, thinking that every piece of land you could just invade and control. This was not right at all. Most Boers we just refugees, trying to escape poverty and religouse oppression. They had nowhere to go which explaines the terrible Boer war history.
I can actually relate with you I am a Scottish anglo saxon man I lived in South Africa during the apartheid era for 2 years the Afrikaner put black people through hell it would have been better if the United Party won in 1948 it was progressive even though it was racist in a seperatist sense it wouldn't have made a state where white supremacy was absolute apartheid was absolute after 2 years of witnessing the crimes that where being done to the blacks I went back to Britain my grandfather lived in South Africa during the 40s he said Jan Smuts' government was very progressive they didnt like black people but would have never made an absolute oppressive system with Smuts' government South Africa would have been a De facto state meaning segregation would mostly have been by practice not by law similar to the northern states in America like New York and Washington in the 50s Jim Crow laws where prohibited in those states but unfortunately the Nationalists won that year in 48 and immediately started passing laws that made South Africa a De Jure state meaning segregation by law.
de klerk conflates the right to self-determination through nation states, and being forced into apartheid. South Africans have never WANTED their own states. De Klerk doesn't disagree with the idea of peace through separation (and I agree, else Kosovo, Serbia, and North-South Sudan would not be justified) What mr de klerk needs to realise is, unlike the bantustans, the right to self-determination in Kosovi and Serbia were being Enforced BY the people, not forced ON the people.
Sure we still have our problems and inequalities in our South Africa but we have come so far since 1994. The words of one retired politician, as expressed through some very leading and almost manipulative questioning means nothing to where this country is going. Love this place! Must have done wonders for Amanpour ratings tho so i'm stoked about that! "The only thing regarded worse than a Yank around here are coppers and journalists." - Green Street Hooligans
@victor....YOUR EVIL MASTER IS DEAD. I SEE ALL DE KLERK'S CHILDREN OF DARKNESS ARE PRAISING THEIR MASTER....KEEP ON PRAISING THE DEVIL AND SEE WHERE YOU END UP. SHAME.
De Klerk was a very intelligent and pragmatic politician. He knew that South Africa would not survive much under the apartheid as it was economically and politically isolated, they lost the US's support and with the fall of the URSS they felt even more under pressure. I'm not denying that a humanist view might have influenced De Klerk, but most of his actions were political and smart. He took the best role in all of this as he is seen as the one who ended the apartheid and even received a nobel price... they could either have left power gracefully or it might have turned ugly, and he took the peaceful retreat, which worked great for him.
Cuteandbronzed that cannot be denied. It was a disgrace and I don't think you will find any civilized person in South Africa, be they white or not, denying that it was a horrific injustice. Please be very aware of that fact. We do have race issues in South Africa but even though they are more pronounced today because of the excellence of mass communication technologies, I honestly think we are on a healthy road to healing. :o)
Like what you said, too many South Africans in Australia UK and NZ still have the mentality of self entitlement , I dislike South Africans bit I understand where all the self righteous and entitlement comes from
Ditto, BEE and the AA concepts are flawed. They should rather be focused on the poor, impoverished and disenfranchised impartially with no regards to race. Making it focused on race enables some people to abuse the system. The true goal of these is of closing the gap between the rich and the poor, but in the end very few poor people benefit from it. Cant help but think if more was invested into the education qualities, schools and hospitals much more progress would be made.
Apartheid was in south africa years ago not today .Today we have apartheid all over the world but not in South africa.we have Apartheidislamism in all over Muslim nations Apartheidblackconciousness all over African states,apartheidlatino all over south America including U.S ,Apartheidchinocomunism all over China.Apartheidnanoindian castes apartheid all over India and a long long etcetera of apartheids of all kinds and measures, some are burning right now..
Defeat? not so sure about that. Its not as if the government was overpowered. Not by a long shot! They did however came to realise that the the Homeland system was not sustainable and not fair. At some stage the wheels would have come off, and they were clever enough to realise that. Show me one African government who gave up power to a group as far divided as the ANC were from the NP? It was an enourmous leap of faith. But somehow very few people seem to realise that.
F.W. de Klerk is as much a hero as Hitler was, the funniest bit bout it all is that he's always treated with kid gloves in interviews. The National Party didn't abandon apartheid because of a new found moral awakening, after many massacres under his party and leadership, the NP realized that black majority wasn't being phased by their onslaught and that only one thing could result from their tenacity...a civil war and consequent annihilation of the white minority.
Sbonelo Ntombela. The white minority in South Africa was divided and very competitive among eachother. This small Group lived a modern democracy, the blueprint for all tribes after Mandela got Power. This group choose to handover power. Mandela saw it like this too. Now we need to control the racism agains this group.
