Apartheid was not invented in South Africa- the problem of ethnic conflict is worldwide.

This was one of the idea’s that former president F. W. DeKlerk shared with us on Wednesday, Feb. 11th, when we had the amazing opportunity to meet with him.  He was the president partly responsible for the end of apartheid, and the person who freed all the political prisoners, including Nelson Mandela, in Feb. of 1990. 

DeKlerk spoke to us about the end of the apartheid era, politics and conflicts and new challenges that South Africa will face in the coming years.  DeKlerk outlined for us that there are two main reasons for conflict: one being poverty, where the rich are contained to a very few people and that then becomes no hope for a better life for those who are poor; the second is the failure to manage diversity between ethnicity and religion.  The problem is not simply black and white.

Slowly, things are continuing to change.  This is now the tenth year under democracy since apartheid ended.  All four people groups: the blacks, the whites, the coloreds and the Indians, are beginning to change views and accept people as they are and what they stand for.  The biggest challenge South Africa faces will be with the political parties and the unfulfilled promises made in the past.  There is a constant process of new development in politics and the economy.

“You can only change successfully if you realize you must change” said DeKlerk.  I believe South Africa is a country under major change, one that will succeed and continue to be a country of great growth and diversity.

Kim Penner