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The FW de Klerk Foundation’s board of advisors chairperson, Dr Theuns Eloff has confirmed to News24 on Monday that he has resigned from the board of trustees.
“I sent an email that I would be resigning from the board of trustees on Thursday, the 30th of April,” he confirmed.
He further stated that his resignation flows “from a statement that had been published by the foundation on the 13th of February”.
“I didn’t agree with the content or the process and because of my previous connection to the foundation I was criticized for it even though I had nothing to with it,” he explained.
News24 earlier reported in February that the FW de Klerk Foundation had labelled the notion that apartheid is a crime against humanity “soviet agitprop” – propaganda meant to agitate.
This was in response to the EFF taking issue with the former apartheid president’s presence in Parliament following his statement that he believed apartheid was not a crime against humanity, during interviews commemorating 30 years since he unbanned liberation movements in the country, News24 reported.
As a result, EFF leader Julius Malema demanded that De Klerk be removed from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address.
The statement sparked controversy and anger across the nation leading to a withdrawal of the comments by the foundation a few days later.
The foundation withdrew its statement and apologised to the nation.
News24 earlier reported that De Klerk said he had taken note of the angry reaction to the statement that had insisted that apartheid was not a crime against humanity.
“I agree with the Desmond and Leah Tutu Foundation that this is not the time to quibble about the degrees of unacceptability of apartheid. It was totally unacceptable,” he said.
“The FW de Klerk Foundation has accordingly decided to withdraw its statement of February 14 unconditionally and apologises for the confusion, anger and hurt that it has caused.”
