As SA bids farewell to FW de Klerk, opinion is divided over his contribution to the peace process

His death was never going to be without controversy – his final message caused a divide as deep and wide as the one he created while alive. 

FW de Klerk, South Africa’s last apartheid president, recorded a message before his death from lung cancer at the age of 85 in which he apologised for the brutal apartheid regime. 

Some saw it as an opportunity to forgive the man who’d even recently refused to concede that apartheid was a crime against humanity. Others saw it as an insincere gimmick, calling it cowardice that it was released after his death.