Post date: Jul 03, 2013 10:45:33 PM
Former South African President FW de Klerk says Nelson Mandela's death will revive the anti-apartheid spirit of the nation.
CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA (JULY 3, 2013) (ENCA) - South Africa's last white president, FW de Klerk, said on Wednesday (July 3) that Nelson Mandela's passing would provide a new focus for his anti-apartheid legacy.
De Klerk was discharged from hospital on Wednesday after a successful operation to install a pacemaker.The former president, 77, jointly received the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize with his successor, Nelson Mandela, for helping oversee South Africa's transition from white-minority apartheid rule.
"Mr Mandela's passing away will result in the revival of a focus on his legacy, on the values which he and I and others wrote into the constitution, on his philosophy of the necessity for reconciliation," said de Klerk as he spoke to journalists on his departure from hospital.
"I think his legacy will become much more alive again, and it can only be good forSouth Africa."
Last week, de Klerk's office said the former president had cut short a European holiday because of the failing health of 94-year-old Mandela, who remains critically ill in hospital.
The faltering health of the 94-year-old, a figure admired globally as a symbol of struggle against injustice and racism, has reinforced a realisation that the father of the post-apartheid South Africa will not be around for ever.