The FW de Klerk Foundation condemns in the strongest possible terms the deeply insulting and racist remarks made by Ms Penny Sparrow regarding black South Africans who enjoyed KZN’s beaches on News Year’s Day.  

Our Constitution calls on us to heal the divisions of the past and to establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental rights. Non-racialism is one of the foundational values on which our new society has been created. Human dignity is another.

President Zuma’s decision to dismiss Minister Nhlanhla Nene as Minister of Finance may signal a catastrophic turning point for South Africa’s already ailing economy. The Ministry of Finance and the Treasury have thus far been the main – and perhaps the last – bulwarks against unrestrained and profligate state expenditure. Minister Nene has maintained probity in the management of state finances and tried, with courage and distinction, to hold the line against irresponsible state expenditure.

It is widely believed that his opposition to the President’s plans to spend more than one trillion rand on Russian nuclear reactors and the firm line that he took in countermanding the highly suspect plans of the SAA Board Chairperson, Dudu Myeni, to reopen complex contracts for new aircraft, have led to his dismissal. Ms Myeni, a close confidante of President Zuma, is also the Chairperson of the Jacob G Zuma Foundation.

The FW de Klerk Foundation has written a letter to the Minister of Health proposing that Government should build an appropriate national monument to commemorate the lives of the four million South Africans who have so far died of HIV/AIDS. By any measure, HIV/AIDS is the most serious human catastrophe that has ever afflicted the people of South Africa.  We need a suitable monument, not only to commemorate the lives of all those who have died of the disease – but also to remind us of the ongoing threat that HIV/AIDS poses to our society.