United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says he’s deeply saddened to learn of the passing of former President FW de Klerk.
De Klerk was the last Apartheid era president and is credited for taking crucial steps that led to the eventual democratic transformation of South Africa.
He died from cancer at his home in Cape Town.
De Klerk was 85.
In a statement, Guterres conveyed his deepest condolences to the family of Mr de Klerk and to the Government and the people of the Republic of South Africa.
Guterres says de Klerk will be remembered as a courageous statesman who took a principled stance, lifting the ban on political organisations and releasing political prisoners, thus helping chart the path for a transition to a democratic South Africa.
The statement adds that as Deputy President from 1994 to 1996, he participated in the Government of National Unity, which oversaw the drafting of a historic new Constitution for South Africa.
The United Nations played a key role, in rallying international support for that historic transition.
Earlier, the De Klerk Foundation has released a video on social media in which former deputy president FW de Klerk again apologises to South Africans for apartheid in an emotional last message.
In the clip, de Klerk apologises unreservedly for apartheid and acknowledges the hurt and wrongs caused by the system:
