DE KLERK LAUDED FOR FREEING MANDELA 20 YEARS AGO
 
(GIN) – Twenty years ago today, former president FW de Klerk called an end to the racist system of apartheid. Not long after, he ordered the release from prison of anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela.
 
De Klerk was “one of the braver apartheid rulers,” observed former ANC secretary general Cyril Ramaphosa in an interview with SABC radio.
 
“Of all the apartheid rulers he was the braver one, who took the steps," Ramaphosa said, but added, “He had to do it….His hand had been forced by pressure inside and outside the country for reforms.”