Three protesters gathered outside the FW de Klerk Foundation in Plattekloof last week demanding that the last apartheid president “apologise for killing our people”.
Standing at the entrance to the Tygerberg office park on Wednesday February 19, the three organisers of the Black People’s National Crisis Committee, a conglomeration of political parties and non governmental organisations, demanded that they be allowed to meet Mr De Klerk, 83, to discuss his comments that FW de Klerk, 83, denied that apartheid was not a crime against humanity in an SABC interview that apartheid was not a crime against humanity.
Two of the committee’s founders, Chumani Maxwele and Ncedisa Mpemnyama, were instrumental in other protests, such as the #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall protests on their respective campuses at UCT and UWC.
Mr Maxwele called for Mr De Klerk to make a full apology about his “insulting” comments on television.
Asked what they would have told Mr De Klerk if they had been able to meet him, Mr Maxwele said they would ask him to disclose the details of all the operations the apartheid security forces had carried out against black loved ones involved in the struggle.
He also asked Mr De Klerk to surrender his Nobel Peace Prize, which he received jointly, in 1993, with Nelson Mandela.
Mr Mpemnyama called Mr De Klerk an unrepentant racist who had insulted the dignity of black people.
A representative of the FW de Klerk Foundation accepted a letter from the protesters and insisted that they were unaware of any such arrangements to meet Mr De Klerk.
The protesters told the foundation’s representative they would be back in seven days.
The foundation did not respond to requests for comment by deadline.