President F.W. de Klerk

Frederik Willem de Klerk (born March 18, 1936) is a former President of South Africa, serving from September 1989 to May 1994. The last white man to be president, he oversaw the end of apartheid. de Klerk was also leader of the National Party (which later became the New National Party) from February 1989 to September 1997.

De Klerk is best known for ending apartheid, South Africa's racial segregation policy, and transforming South Africa into a democracy by allowing the country's black majority to have voting rights. Born in Johannesburg, De Klerk is the son of former Senator Jan de Klerk and a nephew of J.G. Strijdom (Prime Minister from 1954-1958).

After completing high school in Krugersdorp, De Klerk graduated in 1958 from the Potchefstroom University with BA and LL.B. degrees (the latter cum laude). In 1969 he married Marike Willemse, with whom he had two sons and a daughter.

"F.W.", as he became popularly known, was first elected to the South African Parliament in 1969 as the member for Vereeniging, and entered the cabinet in 1978. He became Transvaal provincial National Party leader in 1982. After a long political career and with a very conservative reputation, in 1989 he placed himself at the head of verligte ("enlightened") forces within the governing party, with the result that he was elected head of the National Party in February 1989, and finally State President in September 1989 to replace then president P.W. Botha when the latter was forced to step down after a stroke.

His lifting of the ban on the ANC and other organisations in 2 February 1990 paved the way for the negotiations which led to the end of Apartheid and white minority rule. On 10 February of that year, de Klerk also announced that Nelson Mandela would be released the next day. De Klerk and Mandela were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for their work for the peaceful dismantling of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa.

In April 1994 racially inclusive elections were held for the first time ever. De Klerk ran a largely ceremonial and uncompetitive presidential campaign against Mandela, in which Mandela was soundly elected. He went on to serve for two years as deputy president in Nelson Mandela's government, but announced his retirement from politics in August 1997 in order to dissociate the National Party from the policies he had once implemented.

Conservative South African opinion was scandalised by his messy divorce (October 1998) from his wife Marike and prompt re-marriage to Elita Georgiades, but the whole country was shocked by the death (December 2001) of his ex-wife of 38 years, apparently at the hands of a young security guard during the course of a robbery.

In 2004, de Klerk announced that he was quitting the New National Party and seeking a new political home after it was announced that the NNP would merge with the ruling ANC.

The name 'de Klerk' is derived from Le Clerc / De Clercq and is of French Huguenot origin, as is a great number of other Afrikaans surnames, reflecting the European influence that colonisation brought to the country since the 17th century.