Former South African President, FW de Klerk has died at the age of 85 after suffering from mesothelioma cancer.
This was disclosed earlier today by the FW de Klerk Foundation.
The former President who was also a Nobel peace prize winner, an award he shares with his successor Nelson Mandela, whom he freed from prison to signal the end of apartheid.
De Klerk was a key actor in the country’s transition to multiracial democracy and the last leader under apartheid.
In February 1990, de Klerk delivered a speech at the county’s parliament, announcing sweeping reforms that marked the beginning of the transition from apartheid to multiracial democracy.
The reforms lifted the ban on the African National Congress (ANC) and other anti-apartheid organisations, and authorised the release of political prisoners, including Mandela.
In 1993, De Klerk and other leaders approved a new constitution that officially ended racial segregation in South Africa.
