Apartheid was a crime against humanity, says Ramaphosa

Responding to the Sona debate in parliament on Thursday, President Cyril Ramaphosa condemned accusations of gender-based violence MPs levelled against each other last week.

The president said South Africans were owed an apology for what transpired.

He said: “We owe the people of South Africa an apology for what happened in this debate. Let us agree that we should never again allow such an important issue to be used in this way and reaffirm our shared and unwavering commitment to use all means at our disposal to end gender-based violence and femicide.”

During Thursday’s Sona, as the EFF was demanding that FW De Klerk leave parliament before Ramaphosa’s address, ANC MP Boy Mamabolo stood up on a point of order and said the House was being abused, in the same manner that EFF leader Julius Malema’s wife was allegedly being abused.

Malema denied the allegations and is now suing Mamabolo for defamation. Malema further accused Ramaphosa of abusing his late wife.

The president further commented on former president FW De Klerk saying he did not believe apartheid was a crime against humanity.

He said: “Apartheid was inherently a crime against humanity. It was a crime against the oppressed people of South Africa even before it was so declared by the United Nations in 1973.”

Speaking to the SABC in Cape Town on 2 February, marking 30 years after Mandela’s release from Victor Verster and the unbanning of political parties, De Klerk said that while many were killed during apartheid, more died due to genocide, adding he did not “fully” agree with the UN’s ruling that apartheid was a crime against humanity.

He said: “I don’t fully agree with that. I’m not justifying apartheid in any way. I did [wreak havoc] to millions of South Africans and I apologise for that, profusely apologise for that but there’s a difference between calling something a crime. Genocide is a crime, apartheid cannot be, that’s why I’m saying this.

“It cannot be compared with genocide, there was never a genocide under apartheid. Many people died but more people died because of black on black violence and because of apartheid. I took steps about that.

“Absolutely, I took steps about that, I appointed the Goldstone Commission and we fired or put on retirement more than 28 senior officers in the defence force. I called police and said: ‘You are no longer involved in politics, your task is to safeguard the people of South Africa’. We did take steps.”

His foundation has since withdrawn the statement.

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