President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed a gathering at state memorial of former president FW de Klerk.
President Ramaphosa, said “while the country’s last apartheid-era head of state FW de Klerk played a critical role in the transition to democracy, the anger of those critical of his legacy must never be dismissed, “
The service got off to a shaky start as a handful of protesters attempted to disrupt it, at the Groote Kerk, in Cape Town on Sunday.
Protestors said De Klerk’s memorial was a painful reminder of apartheid.
De Klerk, died at his home in Fresnaye, Cape Town, on 11 November, after a long battle with cancer. He was laid to rest in a private ceremony.
He had ruled over the final years of apartheid between 1989 and 1994.
“We cannot forget the lives that were lost, the land that was taken, the livelihoods that were destroyed because of the implementation of apartheid policies, the rights that were denied and the dreams that were shattered and dashed, ” said Ramaphosa.
Frederik Willem de Klerk was born of the African soil. And it is to the African soil that he has now returned. And it is here, within the warm embrace of the African soil, that he shall forever remain.
— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 (@CyrilRamaphosa) December 12, 2021
I call on all of us to now release him, so that he may be at peace.
Sources: SowetanLIVE, News24
Follow FiND iT here
Also read More than 70 dead in Kentucky after tornadoes hit central and southern US
