de Klerk, F(rederik) W(illem) (1936– )

South African National Party politician, president 1989–94. A pragmatic conservative who sought gradual reform of the apartheid system, he ended the ban on the African National Congress (ANC) opposition movement in 1990 and released its effective leader Nelson Mandela. By June 1991 he had repealed all racially discriminating laws. After a landslide victory for Mandela and the ANC in the first elections open to all regardless of race, in April 1994, de Klerk became second executive deputy president in a government of national unity formed by Mandela. He shared the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize with Mandela for their work in dismantling apartheid and negotiating the transition to a non-racial democracy.

As president, De Klerk moved quickly to initiate talks about a new post-apartheid constitution and to release all important political prisoners. He entered into negotiations with the ANC in December 1991, and in March 1992 a nationwide, whites-only referendum gave him a clear mandate to proceed with plans for major constitutional reform to end white minority rule. In February 1993 he and Mandela agreed to the formation of a government of national unity after multiracial elections in 1994, but in May 1995 he withdrew the National Party from the governing coalition in order to develop a strong opposition.

Born in Johannesburg, de Klerk trained as a lawyer and entered the South African parliament in 1972 for the National Party. He served in the cabinets of B J Vorster and the conservative P W Botha 1978–89, as mines and energy minister (1979–82), internal affairs minister (1982–85) and education and planning minister (1984–89). During this time he built up a power base in Transvaal, where he had led the National Party since 1982. When Botha fell ill in January 1989, he replaced him as National Party leader and became state president in September 1989. Despite winning the Nobel Prize for Peace, de Klerk's reputation was badly damaged by revelations to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the body charged with exposing the truth about the apartheid years. In August 1997 de Klerk retired from active politics.