F. W. DE KLERK

The ANC party from time to time comes with legislation which, if accepted and if not nullified by the constitution of court, would have the effect of undermining the constitution and eroding its values.

I have made the most profound apology in front of the Truth Commission and on other occasions about the injustices which were wrought by apartheid.

The question that we must ask is whether we are making progress toward the goal of universal peace. Or are we caught up on a treadmill of history, turning forever on the axle of mindless aggression and self-destruction?

I played an integral part in helpings formulating that new vision... that we must abandon apartheid and accept one united South Africa with equal rights for all, with all forms of discrimination to be scrapped from the statute book.

President Mandela was not a hands-on president at any time.

The government that came into power after the April 1994 elections was going to need a budget. It was drafted by our finance minister, Derek Keys, and he convinced them of the necessity to stay within the free-market principles that had been in force in South Africa for decades.

In our quest for peace, we should constantly ask ourselves what we should do to create conditions in which peace can prosper.

I believe that first impressions are very important.

What I haven't apologised for is the original concept of seeking to bring justice to all South Africans through the concept of nation states.

Above all, we owe it to the children of the world to stop the conflicts and to create new horizons for them.

The relationship between me and President Mandela right at the beginning was not a very well-established relationship. It was based on two meetings.

You cannot say we are a healthy, dynamic democracy when one party wins almost two-thirds of the vote.

I felt a sense of fulfillment that an action plan, which I'd laid on the table on the 2nd of February 1990, had been fulfilled, had been properly implemented within the time frame which I envisaged.

When I first met Mandela, we did not discuss anything of substance; we just felt each other out. He spent a long time expressing his admiration for the Boer generals and how ingenious they were during the Anglo-Boer war.

When I talk about the end of apartheid, I prefer not to claim the honor that I have ended it.

It was an honour for me to have been able to work with Mr. Mandela in the process that led to the adoption of the interim constitution and our first democratic elections in April 1994.

It was fortunate in looking back for South Africa and its entire people that Mandela and I found it possible to work together even though big strains developed between us from time to time.

My predecessor, P. W. Botha, had an inner circle, and I did not like it. I preferred decisions to evolve out of cabinet discussions. That way, we achieved real co-ownership of our policies.

For many years, I supported the concept of separate states.

We were asking for a clear mandate to normalize the political process; to negotiate a new constitutional dispensation; to remove racial discrimination; to promote economic effectiveness; to maintain law and order; and to remove mistrust by building bridges between our divided communities.

Unless we bring in blacks as full partners, my country won’t be fit for my grandchildren.

It was a day of liberation-not only for black South Africans but also for us white South Africans. Suddenly, the burden of three hundred and fifty years had been lifted from our shoulders. For the first time we could greet all our countrymen without guilt or fear as equals and as fellow South Africans. When I awoke that morning I was still the president of South Africa. When I went to bed the mantle had passed from me to Nelson Mandela. Few heads of government could ever have laid aside their high office with a greater sense of accomplishment, regardless of the uncertainties of the future.

Our aim is a totally new and just constitutional dispension in which every inhabitant will enjoy equal rights, treatment and opportunity in every sphere of endeavour—constitutional, social and economic.

We must strike a balance between speed and thoroughness, between the need for time frames and the avoidance of mistakes which will later cost us dearly.

If I look back, the one thing that I am proud of is that for once I as a political leader, kept every promise I made within one term of office. We achieved a new constitution; we achieved a new bill of rights, which encapsulated this vision of justice for all.