http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/ending-white-rule-avoided-disaster-fw-de-klerk/story-e6frg6so-1225826505258
Ending white rule avoided disaster: F.W. de Klerk From: The Times February 04, 2010 12:00AM SOWETO: Twenty years after announcing Nelson Mandela's release from prison, the last apartheid-era president said dismantling white-only rule saved South Africa from disaster. Speaking at a conference to commemorate his historic speech, F.W. de Klerk said: "It is appropriate for us to celebrate the 20th anniversary of February 2, 1990 - not to honour my role or the role of any other individual or party, but because it prevented a catastrophe." He had little choice but to open negotiations with the ANC as the country struggled with a state of emergency. "We would, no doubt, have been able to maintain control for many years but under increasingly grim and unacceptable circumstances," he said. "Worse still, the prospects for a satisfactory negotiated settlement would have diminished with each successive cycle of revolution and repression. As I walked into parliament, I knew it would change South Africa forever." Nine days after the speech, Nelson Mandela walked to freedom. Four years later Mr de Klerk handed power to Mr Mandela and the ANC after the country's first democratic election. In Soweto, people said yesterday they were frustrated the racial divide had been replaced by a divide between rich and poor. Sitting outside the two-room shack she shares with two daughters and three grandchildren, Beauty Kubheka, 65, said: "In the past they would have bulldozed us out of here, now they (the rulers) leave us with no jobs and forget us while they go and party. Now, we are free and poor - that's better than before, but I am disappointed." Critics say the ANC created a black elite who have had the education and job opportunities but forgot the party's roots. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
