The F.W. de Klerk Foundation: Dedication to the new Constitution

Today, I met with Mr. Dave Steward, Executive Director of the FW De Klerk Foundation and Former South African Ambassador to the United Nations and Chief Counsel during the de Klerk Presidential Administration. (I missed Mr. de Klerk by five minutes but have a nice signed photograph). We discussed the priorities of the Foundation, the continuing impact of history and diverse memory as well as South African/United States relations during the Apartheid era. During the meeting, we discussed different perspectives on issues of race, nation building, and diversity than in other meetings that I have had with NGOs, township educators, and museum curators.

At its core, the Foundation is committed to promoting the core values of ex-President de Klerk. Namely, the organization is concerned with the continued peaceful resolution of disputes, in a country still grappling with a myriad of cultural interpretations on the country's history, and the protection and promotion of the new Constitution that guarantees human rights for all South Africans - the formerly oppressed as well as the advantaged. This is accomplished through the convening of conferences where leaders of all minority and other communities can engage in continued dialogue on issues such as the formation of a national identity while, concurrently, maintaining individual cultural identity. Also, the foundation educates the public to its rights under the new Constituion and monitors legislative threats to constituional democracy in the new South Africa. This is no easy task as, according to Steward, education and the media need to work together in helping citizens to form new loyalties to the state rather than to any particular ethnic group as the one thing in common shared by all South Africans is the new Constitution.

Last year, the foundation also inaugerated the Centre for Constitutional Rights which 1) supports the values/rights inherent in the Constitution, monitors legislative developments that affect the Constitution (this led to an interesting conversation on the Bush Administration and Congress), participates in Parlimentary committees that deal with issues of constitutionality, and conducts studies that assess Constitutional developments in broader society.

Of particular interest and complexity are issues of childrens versus parent rights, language rights, cultural rights, and local versus Federal educational rights (particularly concerning the local governance of schools through school governing bodies). One case, in particular, on which the Foundation voiced an opinion concerned the ban on Western Cape police from using Afrikaans, even if this was their first language, and on the policy that all police business would be conducted in English. In the end, this policy was found to be unconstitutional, by the Constitutional Court, as it was deemed to be a violation of cultural/language rights under the new Constitution. The foundation has also become involved in issues surrounding land restitution and redistribution.

Public education is seen as a particularly important emphasis by the foundation. While it and the Federal government are trying to work with affluent school governing bodies/school districts to accept more disadvantaged students, supported through funds acquired from trusts and school fees, which are significantly higher than in the former townships, Steward fears that many parents will opt for private education and/or leave the country if pushed too intensely. Indeed, since 1994, up to one million whites have left the country for better employment/other opportunities.

Complicating progress on reconciliation remains, as Steward argues, the "elephant in the room" - i.e. different interpretations of the past and expectations for the future - and we are all prisoners of history. Many disadvantaged and disenfranchised want the government to do more in terms of social restorative benefits - i.e. recent strike - and perhaps to even nationalize industries while those more affluent argue that they have succeeded, not because of white priority, but because of hard work and cite recent financial gains of affluent blacks/coloreds resulting from minority empowerment schemes. This community also asks to what degree should they be held accountable for the sins of their parents. Indeed, to punish the affluent today, including whites, would undermine the concept of reconciliation and have consequences for continued progress towards a national identity. Yet, at the same time, the large differential between the rich and poor is fueling the recent spike in domestic crime and violence and threatens the booming economy - especially the tourism sector - and contributes to the international flight of those with marketable skills. The foundation does, however, work with organizations in identifying disadvantaged students who exhibit talent in various artistic/academic areas.

On a side note, as former SA ambassador to the UN during Apartheid, Mr. Stewards' comments on why it took as long as it did to end Apartheid were very interesting. As Afrikaaners (not all) opposing an end to Apartheid were not immigrants, had been in-country for more than several generations (1600s), and had fought Britain in an effort to establish a unique South African identity, their voices needed to be heard and the one man/one vote and right for self-determination could not be overlooked. There was also a fear on the part of the Apartheid era governments that since the African National Congress was aligned to communist parties that, after national liberation, a communist society would be formed in South Africa. Lastly, the government looked at the disasterous results of independence movements in the rest of Africa that led to widescale bloodshed and dictatorships.

While Steward stated that SA wanted to be rid of the "tiger" of Apartheid, they were not sure how to accomplish that. However, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the government was in a better position to move towards democratization as communism ceased to be a threat. (Mandela and the ANC was also in a mood of compromise). Further, many Afrikaaners initially opposed to integration, had moved from blue collar, union-protected positions/trades to white collar professions , with the growth in the domestic economy from the 1960s to 1980s, and were not as threatened by the abolition of Apartheid.