On 2 February 1990, the

State President of South Africa The State President of the Republic of South Africa ( af, Staatspresident) was the head of state of South Africa from 1961 to 1994. The office was established when the country became a republic on 31 May 1961, albeit, outside the Commonweal ...

F. W. de Klerk Frederik Willem de Klerk (, , 18 March 1936 – 11 November 2021) was a South African politician who served as state president of South Africa from 1989 to 1994 and as deputy president from 1994 to 1996 in the democratic government. As South ...

delivered a speech at the opening of the 1990 session of the

Parliament of South Africa The Parliament of the Republic of South Africa is South Africa's legislature; under the present Constitution of South Africa, the bicameral Parliament comprises a National Assembly and a National Council of Provinces. The current twenty-sev ...

in Cape Town in which he announced sweeping reforms that marked the beginning of the negotiated transition from

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid wa ...

constitutional democracy Liberal democracy is the combination of a liberal political ideology that operates under an indirect democratic form of government. It is characterized by elections between multiple distinct political parties, a separation of powers into dif ...

. The reforms promised in the speech included the unbanning of the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election installe ...

(ANC) and other anti-apartheid organisations, the release of

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although n ...

s including

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the ...

, the end of the

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...

, and a moratorium on the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...

Background

South Africa's ruling National Party had instituted a policy of apartheid in 1948, separating the different ethnic groups into set areas and only giving white South Africans the right to vote. This was opposed by several groups including the

(ANC) which often resorted to violent means to oppose it. This resulted in most African nationalist groups being banned by the apartheid government. Accordingly, the South African government made it a criminal offence to be a member of any banned organisation. As a result,

, the leader of the ANC, was arrested by the

South African Police The South African Police (SAP) was the national police force and law enforcement agency in South Africa from 1913 to 1994; it was the ''de facto'' police force in the territory of South West Africa (Namibia) from 1939 to 1981. After South Afr ...

and had been in prison for 27 years at the time of the speech. In 1984, South Africa introduced a new constitution establishing a

Tricameral Parliament The Tricameral Parliament, officially the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, was the legislature of South Africa between 1984 and 1994, established by the South African Constitution of 1983, which gave a limited political voice to t ...

with representation for Coloureds and Indians as well as whites and making the role of

State President The State President of the Republic of South Africa ( af, Staatspresident) was the head of state of South Africa from 1961 to 1994. The office was established when the country became a republic on 31 May 1961, albeit, outside the Commonweal ...

an executive post.

P. W. Botha Pieter Willem Botha, (; 12 January 1916 – 31 October 2006), commonly known as P. W. and af, Die Groot Krokodil (The Big Crocodile), was a South African politician. He served as the last prime minister of South Africa from 1978 to 1984 and ...

of the National Party was the first to hold it but he resigned in 1989 following a stroke and ministers acting without his authorisation in the face of the National Party losing members to the far-right Conservative Party.

was elected as the new State President by National Party members (though Botha retained party leadership) beating

Pik Botha Roelof Frederik "Pik" Botha, (27 April 1932 – 12 October 2018) was a South African politician who served as the country's foreign minister in the last years of the apartheid era, the longest-serving in South African history. Known as a lib ...

and Barend du Plessis. Upon winning the

1989 South African general election General elections were held in South Africa on 6 September 1989, the last under apartheid. Snap elections had been called early (no election was required until 1992) by the recently elected head of the National Party (NP), F. W. de Klerk, who ...

, de Klerk started to loosen restrictions on peaceful protest marches and released a few prisoners such as

Thabo Mbeki Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki KStJ (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who was the second president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Congress (ANC) ...

. He then secretly met with Mandela and discussed the end of apartheid. Two days before giving the speech, he swore his cabinet to secrecy after telling them what he was going to do.

Speech

When de Klerk gave the speech on 2 February 1990, he had not planned to release Mandela and only told his wife in the car on the way to Parliament that he would. He had previously been urged to by the

British Prime Minister The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern p ...

Margaret Thatcher who told him it would have the biggest impact over any other action he could take. De Klerk started his speech by commenting on foreign relations and human rights before announcing the suspension of the death penalty. After discussing economic issues, de Klerk announced the unbanning of the ANC, the

Pan Africanist Congress The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (known as the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC)) is a South African national liberation Pan-Africanist movement that is now a political party. It was founded by an Africanist group, led by Robert Sobukwe, that ...

, the

South African Communist Party The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in South Africa. It was founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by the governing Na ...

and a number of their associated ancillary groups. The audience audibly gasped at hearing this being announced. He then announced an end to some of the restrictions implemented in the state of emergency. De Klerk then announced he would begin negotiations to end the apartheid system and would negotiate for an equal country with equal rights and protections and voting rights for all. Following this, he announced he was releasing Mandela unconditionally but the release would be delayed slightly due to concerns over right-wing extremists and due to administrative issues. He ended by inviting all political leaders to join in the negotiations.

Reaction

During the speech, Conservative Party MPs walked out shouting "traitor" at him. The Conservative MP Koos van der Merwe said "de Klerk is a traitor to his own people, he's trying to kill the

Afrikaner Afrikaners () are a South African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th and 18th centuries.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: Brain to Casti ...

nation." The Conservatives then led a strike in

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the footh ...

on the day and 5,000 white farmers blocked the roads. Domestically, Archbishop

Desmond Tutu Desmond Mpilo Tutu (7 October 193126 December 2021) was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic dis ...

said that de Klerk "...has taken my breath away". However Mandela's wife Winnie doubted the sincerity citing that it was dangerous to unban all the African nationalist organisations, saying "we're not going to accept a bone without meat". Internationally, Thatcher wrote to congratulate de Klerk for making the move. The

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United St ...

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

responded positively to the news but needed to hear more before he would lift American sanctions on South Africa. De Klerk would later announce Mandela's release on 11 February 1990. South Africa held a whites only referendum in March 1992 asking if they approved the end of apartheid, which the result was 68% for yes over Conservative opposition. An interim constitution was set up in 1993 in preparations for the

1994 South African general election General elections were held in South Africa between 26 and 29 April 1994. The elections were the first in which citizens of all races were allowed to take part, and were therefore also the first held with universal suffrage. The election was c ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

Transcript of the speech

BBC News report

ABC News report

SABC News report
(Afrikaans with English subtitles) Speeches by heads of state Events associated with apartheid 1990 in South Africa February 1990 events in Africa 1990 speeches

Background

Speech

Reaction

See also

References

External links