F W De Klerk: The Man in His Time
On 20 September 1989 Frederick Willem de Klerk was sworn in as State President of the Republic of South Africa. Four months later in a series of moves, perhaps the boldest in South African political history, he was to set South Africa free of its past.
An F W de Klerk biography written by his brother Willem
Who is F W de Klerk, and how has he changed the face of South African politics?
As his older brother, I will venture an answer to that question. It is most unusual for one brother to write about the other – it might even be construed as suspect. The plus is that I know him intimately. He has been before my eyes throughout his life, in a relationship that has always been candidly open. The minus is that the closeness of kinship might have clouded objectivity. For this I make no apology, because as far as involvement (common to every author and his subject) is concerned, this book is written with a measure of detachment: for years I have been a political commentator, striving for impartiality, truth and objectivity.
It was not my intention to write a biography or a comprehensive historical document. This is a factual portrait with the aid of the observations, knowledge and experience accumulated by myself and other people close to him; it is a commentary on South African politics with a particular accent on F W de Klerk’s involvement. I have bound everything I have to say together with F W’s political history rather than private family interactions.
Politics is very volatile in this country, and by the time this book appears there may well have been changes. I will try to give a synopsis of a few crucial events, with F W as chief actor: comprehensiveness is not the goal, but rather to illustrate the driving forces of South African politics and F W’s life. The book is a marriage of the man and his time. This aims to be an honest book, but it remains an interpretation and is therefore subjective. The man who is written about can in no way be held responsible for the author’s opinions and conclusions.
