Thirty years have passed since the cold winter’s day in Oslo when Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
It is difficult to believe that 10 years have now elapsed since the passing of Nelson Mandela. However, his legacy remains as fresh today as it was on the day that he was inaugurated as the first President of our constitutional democracy.
Tributes to FW de Klerk at this year’s FW de Klerk Memorial Lecture at the Global Leadership Foundation’s annual memorial dinner.
I am very honoured to be asked to make a few comments at this second memorial lecture of FW de Klerk. I have been asked by Elita to do it, and I was asked by Dave Steward, FW’s close friend and associate, who is the chairman of the FW de Klerk Foundation in South Africa to make these remarks.
On 15 September, the FW de Klerk Foundation made a written submission to the National Council of Provinces on the National Health Insurance Bill. The Foundation analysed key failures of the NHI Bill with specific reference to the constitutional principle of the Rule of Law and rationality, the feasibility of the proposed system and governance concerns, coupled with the unfettered power of the Minister of Health (“the Minister”).
The FW de Klerk Foundation has learned with the greatest sadness of the passing of Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi this morning – shortly after the celebration of his 95th birthday.
On 29 August 2023, Kholeka Gcaleka, who is the Acting Public Protector (APP), was nominated as the candidate to succeed the disgraced Busisiwe Mkhwebane as Public Protector (PP). Mkhwebane’s predecessor, Advocate Thuli Madonsela, demonstrated how the office of Public Protector could play a crucial role in holding to account state institutions that were suspected of improper conduct. Indeed, her fearless exposure of state capture under President Jacob Zuma played a pivotal role in forcing his resignation. Sadly, Mkhwebane did not continue this proud tradition and instead mired the office in unseemly controversy after controversy, racking up an unprecedented number of judicial rebukes in the process.
According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2023, South Africa stood unchanged from its 20th position in the world in terms of gender equality. The report noted that South Africa had “closed more than 70% of the overall gender gap”, but that it would “take 102 years to close the gender gap”.
In his recent articles on the Constitution, Prof Koos Malan expresses the view that those of us who supported the constitutional transformation of South Africa between 1989 and 1996 were motivated by some kind of liberal-religious delusion. Dave Steward, Chairman of the FW de Klerk Foundation, responds.
FW de Klerk Foundation
129 Hatfield Street, Gardens, Cape Town, South Africa
+27 (0) 21 930 36 22
info@fwdeklerk.org
NPO number – 031-061
PBO number – 930004278
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FW de Klerk Foundation
129 Hatfield Street, Gardens, Cape Town, South Africa
+27 (0) 21 930 36 22
info@fwdeklerk.org
NPO number – 031-061
PBO number – 930004278
Legal Documents
Privacy Policy
