South Africa's last apartheid president, FW de Klerk, was on Sunday lauded for his bravery and his role in the negotiations for the country's Constitution.
The passing of South Africa’s last apartheid president, FW de Klerk, raises pressing questions about a complex historical character who, according to his brother, Willem de Klerk, slowly outgrew apartheid. In a critical sense, he was bound, understandably, by both time and context: race, the need to defend a racial hierarchy, the historical role of a segregationist system that saw his all-white National Party retain power for decades. By Binoy Kampmark