As Zuma rose, SA declined, says FW de Klerk

South Africa’s last apartheid head of state, FW de Klerk, on Thursday reportedly accused President Jacob Zuma of being determined to accelerate the country’s descent into an economic and racial crisis.

“President Zuma is determined to accelerate our descent along the road to state capture, economic crisis and racial confrontation,” De Klerk said at a conference hosted by his foundation.

News24 reports that the event was to mark 27 years since De Klerk announced the unbanning of the ANC and other anti-apartheid organisations, including the release from prison of the country’s later first democratically elected president, Nelson Mandela.

De Klerk said the governing party’s seminal Polokwane national elective conference in 2007, which heralded Zuma’s ascendency to the Union Buildings, had marked the beginning of the decline.

This could be seen in the Hawks, crime intelligence, and the police being used to get rid opponents and protect allies, he continued.

“We have trundled aimlessly down the road to societal decline,” De Klerk said.

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According to the report, De Klerk also said the Directorate of Special Operations, also known as the Scorpions, was “destroyed” when Zuma came into power, paving the way for the alleged corruption and state capture seen today.

He also criticised the national legislature, saying parliament was being used to rubber-stamp the ANC’s decisions.

De Klerk said he was concerned that the government was “propagating” racial polarisation, saying it reinforced separate racial development.

De Klerk predicted that people’s jobs, land and prospects would in future be defined by their race. Minorities such as whites, Indians and coloureds would be left behind as “demographic pens” were formed.

He warned the white population would shrink to virtual elimination.