This evening, Trinity Law Society (Law Soc) presented former President of South Africa FW de Klerk with their Praeses Elit award in recognition of his work alongside Nelson Mandela to end racial segregation and discrimination. De Klerk said he had spoken at Trinity some 19 years ago and was pleased to be back in “so ancient and august an institution” and expressed his gratitude at being recognised by the society.
De Klerk practiced law himself and was offered a professorship in 1972, but chose to serve in parliament instead. De Klerk spoke about the radical way in which values changed in the 20th century. He gave a brief history about the class, gender and racial discrimination that was regarded as natural in the beginning of the century and the ideological changes that came particularly after World War Two. South Africa saw much reform in the 1980s, but this did not go far enough to satisfy the demand for the transfer of power to the democratically elected. De Klerk recalled that in February 1990 he “leapt through the window of opportunity and commenced negotiations”, seeking to entrench principles of equality and non-discrimination.
He finished his address by emphasising the importance of defending the ideals of freedom and equality, particularly after the remarkable and disturbing developments which took place in 2016.
In a Q&A session, de Klerk spoke about the nuclear disarmament of South Africa, which he described as one of the most important things he did during in his presidency. He laid out his belief that international agreements should be renegotiated so that all countries should get of rid of nuclear weapons in an orderly way. He also predicted that the “faction ridden” African National Congress (ANC) would become two entities, with one being quite radical and socialist and the other more moderate, democratic and a supporter of the free market. He advocated a departure from the “old style racially based politics” to “value-based” ones.
In response to a question regarding South Africa’s membership of the International Criminal Courts, he said he was in favour of reforming, rather than running away from, institutions.
The former president faced some difficult questions from the audience. He acknowledged that, although opposed to class discrimination, he had believed in dividing South Africa into independent states in his early political career. He and his party came to realise that this had failed to achieve justice and so formulated “a new ideal of inclusivity”. He also said he was in favour of addressing the wrongs of the past but cautioned against affirmative action without taking merits into consideration. He advocated for more training to deal with this issue.
Finally, he was asked about how he felt about being jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with Nelson Mandela, and whether he was offered it as a result of “politeness”. He commented that this was a “courageous decision” that he recognised was unpopular and controversial. However, he also noted that the initiatives taken by his party laid the foundations for successful negotiations which resulted in a favourable constitution.
