Zindzi Mandela ‘heartbroken’ about ANC’s ‘defence’ of FW de Klerk

SA's ambassador to Denmark, Zindzi Mandela, has condemned the ANC for “defending” former apartheid president FW de Klerk, saying she is “heartbroken”.

“As a loyal and dedicated member of the ANC, I am heartbroken this happened to my mother [Winnie Madikizela-Mandela] and many others under de Klerk's watch,” she said on Twitter at the weekend, referring to treatment they received.

She also questioned what the ANC stood for.

“According to his interview, he justified this, therefore saying that my mother and others deserved this aggression. What do we stand for?” she wrote.

Mandela's tweet comes after De Klerk's recent interview on SABC, in which he said he did not agree with the UN's declaration that apartheid was a crime against humanity.

“I don’t fully agree with that. I’m not justifying apartheid in any way ... I apologised for that, profusely apologise for that, but there’s a difference between calling something a crime. Genocide is a crime, apartheid cannot be, that’s why I’m saying this.

“It cannot be compared with genocide. There was never a genocide under apartheid. Many people died, but more people died because of black on black violence than because of apartheid,” he said.

Watch video below (skip to 22:23 minutes): 

Last week, while marking the 30th anniversary of his speech unbanning political organisations such as the ANC, PAC and SACP, de Klerk told eNCA that he had no regrets about the decisions he made during his time in government.

“Knowing what I know today I would have made that same speech 30 years ago. It had to be done and it had to be done to bring justice, and it had to be done to avert catastrophe in SA.”

EFF slams De Klerk

EFF leader Julius Malema cast a spotlight on De Klerk at the state of the nation address (Sona) on Thursday, saying it was a mistake for parliament to invite a “murderer” such as him and that he should leave.

“The people of Boipatong are still crying and De Klerk said apartheid was not a crime against humanity.

“He is an unrepentant apologist of apartheid. He is not willing to accept that apartheid was a crime against humanity,” said Malema.