DA interim leader, John Steenhuisen says the most recent debate about whether Apartheid was a crime against humanity is misplaced.
He was referring to earlier statements by former apartheid era President F.W. De Klerk that apartheid was not a crime against humanity which he later retracted.
In this video, F.W. De Klerk makes controversial statement that apartheid was not a crime against humanity:
Steenhuisen says he has categorically stated that De Klerk was wrong in his denialism of the evils of the system, but believes that the discussion should have focused on apartheid’s legacy rather than its labelling.
“The debate has revolved around what we call the abhorrent system not the fact that 20 years after the end of the system, we still have 30 million black South Africans locked out of opportunity and living in poverty on less than R991 a month. We still have 27% of children, mainly black children, going to bed every night without the daily nutritional requirement and we have 10.4 million, mostly young black South Africans who are unemployed. That is the debate that we should be having.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa has criticised South Africans who he says still think apartheid was not a crime against humanity.
He was delivering a memorial lecture to honour the late ANC stalwart Raymond Mhlaba in Vryheid in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
“We must admit that the values that Oom Ray stood for are under attack from some quarters in our society. The unity of the people of South Africa black and white is being undermined by those who perpetuate the falls and the backward motion of white supremacy, which manifests itself in sporadic ranks of racial bigotry. There are still those South Africans who are still on the belief that apartheid was not a crime against humanity. They must wake up and know indeed that apartheid was a huge crime against the people of this country.”
5 QUOTES ON DE KLERK’S UTTERANCES ON APARTHEID by SABC Digital News
