FW de Klerk, former president who helped end Apartheid in South Africa, dies at 85

National Party leader was integral to the country's transition to democracy

(FILE) - Former President Frederik Willem de Klerk of South Africa attending the 12th Europe Lecture in the Hague, The Netherlands, 25 October 2013. FW de Klerk Foundation said on 11 November the former South African president died at 85 years old. EPA / BAS CZERWINSKI

In March 1992, South African President FW de Klerk addresses a packed hall at a teachers' training college in Pretoria during a referendum rally. AFP

Frederik Willem de Klerk, centre, in Cape Town during South Africa's final white parliament session. AFP

State President of South Africa Frederik Willem de Klerk with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, right, in Johannesburg in September 1991 at the historic National Peace accord aimed at ending violence in black townships. AFP

On September 26, 1992, African National Congress president Nelson Mandela and President FW de Klerk met to discuss ways to prevent political violence in South Africa. AFP

FW de Klerk addresses a referendum meeting in Kimberley on March 10, 1992 during his campaign to end apartheid. AFP

South African President Nelson Mandela and Vice President FW de Klerk with their Nobel Peace Prize medals and diplomas in Oslo, December 10, 1993. De Klerk, who presided over the end of the apartheid regime, died on November 11, 2021. AP Photo

South African President FW de Klerk outside his office in Cape Town, in 1992 with a copy of a local newspaper with a banner headline declaring a 'Yes' result in a referendum vote to end apartheid and share power with the black majority for the first time. AP Photo

(FILES) In this file photo taken on December 09, 1993 Nelson Mandela, President of South African African National Congress (C) and South African President Frederik de Klerk (R) display in Oslo their Nobel Prizes after being awarded jointly for their work to end apartheid peacefully. - FW de Klerk, South Africa's last white president, has died aged 85, his foundation announced on November 11, 2021. AFP

On August 26, 1997, FW de Klerk announced his resignation as leader of the National Party at at the party's offices in Cape Town. AFP

Former president FW de Klerk and his second wife Elita Georgiades arrive for the State of the Nation Address in parliament in Cape Town on February 13, 2020. AP Photo

South African President FW de Klerk bids farewell to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher after private talks in London, April 23, 1991. AP Photo

President FW de Klerk and Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi face the press in Durban, South Africa after a meeting to discuss the threat to free and fair elections in Natal, now KwaZulu-Natal. The two leaders announced 'progress' in their talks. AFP

FW de Klerk marks the end of South Africa's rule of Namibia during independence celebrations in Windhoek, Namibia, March 21, 1990. AP Photo

South Africa's last white president, Frederik Willem de Klerk, who negotiated a peaceful transfer of power to a government under Nelson Mandela, died on Thursday aged 85 after a battle with cancer, his foundation said.

De Klerk was feted globally for his role in ending apartheid and he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Mandela in 1993. The following year Mandela won South Africa's first multiracial elections with his African National Congress (ANC).

But de Klerk's role in the transition to democracy is still highly contested more than 20 years after the end of apartheid.

Many black South Africans were angered by his failure to curb political violence in the turbulent years leading up to the 1994 elections, while right-wing white Afrikaners, who had long ruled the country under de Klerk's National Party, viewed him as a traitor to their pursuit of white supremacy.

"Former President FW de Klerk died peacefully at his home in Fresnaye earlier this morning following his struggle against mesothelioma cancer," the FW de Klerk Foundation said in a statement on Thursday morning.

In March he was found to have mesothelioma, a cancer that affects the tissue lining the lungs.

"He is survived by his wife Elita, his children Jan and Susan and his grandchildren," the foundation said, and that the family would in due course make an announcement regarding funeral arrangements.

Although no longer active in South African politics, de Klerk prompted anger among supporters of president Jacob Zuma in 2016 when he accused them and their leader of seeking to advance their personal interests and of endangering the country's constitutional democracy.

De Klerk again was criticised last year when he told a national broadcaster that he did not believe apartheid was a crime against humanity, as declared by the United Nations.

The backlash triggered by his remarks forced de Klerk to withdraw from an online seminar with the American Bar Association in the United States, where he had been due to speak on issues such as minority rights and racism.

"The allegation that de Klerk was involved in gross violations of human rights is baseless," his foundation said in July 2020 when he withdrew from the event.

"However, it appears unacceptable in the current super-heated racial climate that any leader from South Africa’s troubled past should be permitted to retain the slightest vestige of honour," it said.