Speaking to a mostly-full audience at DePauw U. Friday night, former South African President F.W. de Klerk discussed the many reasons that South Africa was able to end its policy of apartheid.
The former president said economic growth that took place during the 1960s and 1970s contributed to the end of apartheid. Many blacks moved into big cities, which led many of them toward economic prosperity.
He also said that the eradication of communism, culminating with the collapse of the Soviet Union, helped hasten apartheid’s end. He noted that without the willpower of the United States during the Cold War, South Africa could have been in a very different state than it is today.
“What we have learned over the past 20 years is that conflict does not come from country to country, but spans across different ideologies,” he said.
De Klerk said while South Africa has improved significantly in recent years, he believes that the country still has much to overcome.
“South Africa still has many problems, such as poverty, crime and AIDS,” de Klerk said. “But problems can be solved with hard work and proper use of resources.”
Negotiations was also a key theme of de Klerk’s speech. He said both sides must be able to take risks, but compromise is also an important element in determining whether a negotiation is successful.
Mac Dixon-Fyle, DePauw professor of history, introduced de Klerk before his speech, relating South Africa’s history with events that took place on DePauw’s campus. Dixon-Fyle pointed out that while the conflict over apartheid took place in South Africa during the 1980s, a group of DePauw students actively lobbied the Board of Trustees to stop investing in South African securities.
On a lighter note, de Klerk said that arriving at DePauw had reminded him of his college days, as he attended a university with approximately 3,000 students.
“The town…was a little bit bigger than DePauw’s,” de Klerk said.
De Klerk said that his experience at a smaller university was helpful for him, since he was able to get to know his professors and build a community with the students on campus.
The former president spoke as part of the Timothy and Sharon Ubben Lecture Series. He was the seventh state president of South Africa, serving from 1989-1994. His most notable acts in office included ending South Africa’s ban on the African National Congress, along with ordering the release of Nelson Mandela, who would succeed him as president of South Africa.
DePauw sophomore Margaret Wambura said that while she enjoyed de Klerk’s speech, the issue of race was notably absent.
“I think it was a good speech, but it did not highlight the racial matters that I thought would be very, very good for the speech,” Wambura said. “It’s a very touchy topic, and that’s why I don’t think he brought it up much.”