He is strong, stable and influential – but, like Bush, he is a man who has left no footprints". Who remembers De Klerk in the various cabinet posts he has held over the last decade: posts and telecommunications, home affairs, social welfare and pensions, sport and recreation, mines and environmental planning and energy?
Colleagues agree that he is solid but unimaginative; of unquestionable integrity, but not inventive; powerful but cautious. Stellenbosch professor and former advisor to PW Botha, Sampie Terreblanche, says he is "South Africa's archetype of middle-of the-roadism", having "developed being noncommittal to a fine art". Other former colleagues say that faced with a conflict, De Klerk has always carefully weighed up the situation, then proposed a compromise.
Among De Klerk's features:
- At 52, he is younger than most cabinet members;
- He is at arm's length from the "securocrat" network. This does not mean he will be "soft" on security; however, his colleagues say decisions will shift back toward the party, rather than be taken in security structures.
- He is ardently committed to the notion of "group rights". MPs say this is the single issue on which he is most inflexible.
De Klerk is regarded by many as a reluctant reformer: on the one hand he has often spoken in favour of PW Botha’s "adapt or die approach"; on theother, as leader of the Transvaal party, he is the person who has had to face the Conservative Party head on and brave the electoral consequences of reform. When he has acted as minister, it was notoriously rightwing action. For example, he led the government's attack on the universities last year; he was the sharpest critic of Danie Craven after the rugby boss talked to the African National Congress this year; and as minister of internal affairs he was accused of dragging his heels on attempts to ditch the Immorality and Mixed Marraiges Acts.
On the other hand, his colleagues credit him with much of the long-term planning in the new constitution. Compared to PW Botha, he is known for his "accessibility, level-headedness and reasonableness". This means he is likely to get further in his dealings with groups such as the Labour Party and might have more chance of negotiating a postponement of this year’s scheduled elections. De Klerk comes from a family steeped in Afrikaner power politics. His great-grandfather was a senator, his grandfather stood for parliament twice – although without success and his aunt married then Prime Minister JG Strydom. His father was general secretary of the Transvaal National Party from the watershed year of 1948 until 1954. He went on to hold cabinet posts, eventually being appointed president of the Senate – a post he held until 1976.
De Klerk became politically involved as a youngster, joining the youth section of the National Party while still in his teens. He later served on the executive of the Afrikaanse Studentebond, then the "finishing school" for future leaders of government. He practised as an attorney from 1961 to 1972, while serving as chairman of the local NP divisional council. He was appointed to a law professorship at Potchefstroom University but entered parliament instead after the NP's Vereeniging seat became available.
De Klerk moved quickly through party structures, serving on a range of select committees and commissions, before taking up his various ministerial posts. Following the NP/CP split in 1982, he became leader of the Transvaal party. With the advent of the tricameral constitution, he became chairman of the Ministers' Council in the House of Assembly retaining his national education portfolio. – Anton Harber & Shaun Johnson.
This article originally appeared in the Weekly Mail.