The FW de Klerk Foundation wishes to congratulate Mr Cyril Matamela Ramaphosa on being elected unopposed as President of the Republic of South Africa. We have, in the beginning of his tenure as President, often stated that we will support him in his endeavours to re-instate clean government, eradicate State capture and corruption, and rejuvenate the economy. We have also stated that in this, we will watch him closely. 

We therefore welcome his first statements after his election as President, inter alia that he will serve all the people of South Africa, and not just the ANC; that he will (as Madiba), not lose touch with the needs of ordinary South Africans, and that he will collaborate constructively with leaders of opposition parties to find and implement solutions for our predicament. These are the words of a statesman and stand in stark contrast to the views and actions of his predecessor.

The FW de Klerk Foundation welcomes media reports that eThekwini Mayor Zandile Gumede appeared in the Durban Specialised Commercial Crime Court today, relating to charges of fraud and corruption concerning eThekwini Municipality. Ms Gumede apparently handed herself over to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks), to avoid arrest and appeared in Court to face the charges. 

This signals one of the first dominoes to fall in answering for the alleged looting of State funds, and all eyes will be on the court case.

According to a statement by the Hawks of 13 May 2019, Mayor Gumede is part of a larger group who were arrested following an investigation by the Hawks’ National Clean Audit Task Team (NCATT) into eThekwini Municipality. The investigation centred around allegations of fraud and corruption relating to a R208 million Durban Solid Waste tender. 

In 2016 the FW de Klerk Foundation joined a group of other foundations, led by or based on the legacy of iconic national leaders, under the banner of the National Foundations Dialogue Initiative (NFDI)*. The main goal of the NFDI is to lead and facilitate a process of ongoing dialogue between all South Africans on our common future, based on our shared commitment to our Constitution.  This is in keeping with the FW de Klerk Foundation’s vision and mission, of promoting FW de Klerk’s presidential heritage, among others, to support and promote the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. This includes every South African’s right to vote. 

On the eve of the FW de Klerk Foundation’s 20th anniversary, the Foundation’s Board of Trustees has taken a number of important decisions. These are to ensure that the Foundation continues to play a significant role deep into the future in supporting the Constitution, promoting positive inter-community relations and commemorating FW de Klerk’s legacy.

The Foundation has decided to acquire its own offices, where it will establish an FW de Klerk Documentation Centre.   One of the Centre’s core purposes will be to commemorate South Africa’s historic constitutional transformation process between 1990 and 1996, and the role that South Africans from all political parties played in this process.  The Board believes – together with many others in South Africa and throughout the world – that this was one of South Africa’s greatest achievements.

The FW de Klerk Foundation is once again deeply concerned about the hate speech findings made by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) regarding certain statements made by Mr Malema and other members of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).  These include the Foundation’s initial complaint against Mr Malema in November 2016, in which he stated that “…We are not calling for the slaughtering of white people, at least for now ”. This was, inexplicably, found by the SAHRC not to be hate speech in terms of section 10 of the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act (the Equality Act). The SAHRC found that none of the other complaints were hate speech in terms of the Equality Act. 

Veteran journalist, Karima Brown, recently mistakenly posted a message on an EFF media WhatsApp group, advising journalists to “keep an eye out” for a “Breakfast with the Elderly” planned for Wednesday, 6 March.  EFF leader, Julius Malema, responded angrily that Brown was not a journalist and implied that she must be “a mole” working for a security agency or for the ANC.  After he had published her telephone number in a Tweet, some of his followers viciously abused Brown – calling her “an Indian whore and b****”, and threatening her with rape and death, and her family with violence.

The attack on Brown follows similar EFF attacks on other journalists, including Ranjeni Munusamy, Max du Preez and News24 editor, Adriaan Basson.