Word: klerk
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When State President F.W. de Klerk speaks of his vision of a new South Africa, the country's voteless 26 million blacks can be forgiven for being skeptical. The reform policies of De Klerk's predecessor, P.W. Botha, unleashed disappointment and nearly three years of violent unrest before grinding to a halt. But one of the most vocal critics of De Klerk's reluctance to abolish apartheid is a prominent Afrikaner who sat only a few feet behind him on inauguration day last month: his elder brother Willem...
...wild-eyed liberal by the standards of his family and its Dutch settler forebears, Willem de Klerk publicly -- and constantly -- urges that apartheid be replaced by black majority rule. A former Dutch Reformed pastor and editor who now teaches journalism at Rand Afrikaans University, he helped establish the liberal opposition Democratic Party in April. Although his brother's career was at stake, Willem voted for the Democrats in September's election. After the ballots were counted, F.W.'s National Party barely retained its four-decade grip on power...
...Klerk family tree is deeply rooted in politics. A great-grandfather sat in the now defunct Senate, and Uncle Johannes Strijdom served as Prime Minister from 1954 to 1958. The family often vacationed at Strijdom's summer estate in the Kruger National Park. The brothers' indomitably conservative father Jan de Klerk played a pivotal role in the Nationalists' dramatic victory in 1948 as the party's secretary in the Transvaal. F.W. was only twelve at the time, and his father's passion for electoral politics made an indelible impression...
Acting President F.W. de Klerk, who will be sworn in for a full five-year term this week, followed up with a still bolder gesture. Though all outdoor rallies are banned under the state of emergency, he granted permission for protests in major cities across South Africa and ordered police to stand back...
...largest antiapartheid demonstration in 29 years, more than 20,000 people, mostly black and mixed race, marched without incident in the southern city of Cape Town. Said De Klerk: "The door to a new South Africa is open...