SOUTH Africa’s economic and social problems were serious but not insurmountable, former president FW de Klerk said on Wednesday.
”If we join hands and work together we can make things work and reap the benefits of a prosperous society.”
Speaking during an SABC radio interview with talkshow host Tim Modise, De Klerk said the country had become a much better place since the demise of apartheid.
”Ask yourself… if we had not made that paradigm shift, what would South Africa have looked like today?” he said. He sketched by way of an answer a scenario depicting a country destroyed by civil war, starvation and economic meltdown.
”The greatest asset we have in South Africa is the goodwill of the majority of people… it is only a very small minority of people who are negative,” De Klerk said.
He praised both former president Nelson Mandela and his successor, President Thabo Mbeki.
”Mandela is a remarkable bridge builder. His work is of a value we will probably only recognise years from now… I have great regard for him.”
De Klerk was supportive of President Mbeki and said he was a good administrator and had an excellent grasp of governance.
”It was wrong to place the burden of finding a solution to the ongoing Zimbabwe crisis on his shoulders. The solution should have been more regional,” he said.
Asked what he thought of the government’s policies he said he gave the economic strategy ”a good report.”
Nevertheless, the African National Congress government had a number of policies that he found incomprehensible — Aids and crime being two cases in point — and he could not support their strategies on those issues, De Klerk said.
Asked to comment on the volatile situation in the Middle East, de Klerk said that regions leaders could learn from South Africa’s transition to democracy.
”Certain crucial elements that were present when we sat down to negotiate are totally absent in Israel. We realised that sacrifices needed to be made, we knew time was of the essence and there was also a firm commitment to the peace process.”
Until Israeli and Palestinian negotiators realised there could be no winners or losers, they would get nowhere, De Klerk said. He also pointed out that the USA was too widely perceived as a friend of Israel to play the role of go-between.
Moving on to the topic of his late former wife, Marike de Klerk, and her untimely and brutal demise, de Klerk said he was not bitter and harboured no grudge.
”We need to forgive those who trespass against us. Obviously I want to see justice done but I don’t want to see her death turned into an issue of racial conflict.”
He asked South Africans to focus on identifying their common purposes and said the country’s constitution enshrined a value system that, if made into a living document, would see the country triumph over major obstacles like poverty and crime. – Sapa