Africa

Former South African leader FW de Klerk dies, age 85

South Africa’s last white president Frederik Willem (FW) de Klerk has died at his home in Cape Town, the FW de Klerk Foundation says in a statement.

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

De Klerk, 85, headed South Africa’s white minority government until 1994, when Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress party swept to power.

!function(e,t,n){let o;const a=e.getElementsByTagName(“script”)[0];e.getElementById(n)||(o=e.createElement(“script”),o.id=n,o.onload=()=>{},o.src=”https://playback.oovvuu.media/player/bundle.js”,a.parentNode.insertBefore(o,a))}(document,0,”oovvuu-player-sdk”);

He shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Mr Mandela, but his role in the transition to democracy remains highly contested more than 20 years after the end of apartheid.

He was diagnosed in March with mesothelioma, a cancer that affects the tissue lining the lungs.

The post Former South African leader FW de Klerk dies, age 85 appeared first on The New Daily.