FW's rollercoaster ride

Source: News24 (chronological from bottom to top)

About 12 years ago, a friend of my parents, who also happened to be an acclaimed journalist (he has since passed away), told us of an off the record meeting he had with FW de Klerk. It was long ago and I was very young, but I'll never forget one thing he said: that FW was very bitter about how he was cast aside after the post-Apartheid elections. The journo said he had lost all respect for FW, that he had become "a bitter old man".

FW de Klerk - adulterer, Apartheid-buster, token Nobel Peace Prize winner, bitter old man: the last of the great Afrikaans leaders.

Where have all the great Afrikaans leaders gone? Charismatic Afrikaans leaders are a dying breed (at best). As flawed as FW is/was, these days we have to endure spineless sycophantic sell-outs like Marthinus van Schalkwyk. I know jellyfish with more backbone and accountants with more charisma than that guy. If Paul Kruger were alive today, Marthinus van Schalkwyk would be dead today. The truth is that we (yes I’m Afrikaans) have been conditioned to believe that we are scum. We have lost all cultural pride and the great Afrikaans minds are not stepping up to the plate simply because they don’t believe in the Team anymore.

If I’m supposed to feel guilty about Apartheid, well sorry, I don’t. For the same reason I’m not personally ashamed that my parents used to listen to ABBA. This is a new generation: fuck the sins of our fathers for they are not mine, I will not take ownership. Until they pinpoint and isolate an undeniably responsible Apartheid genetic sequence, I will not apologize for anything.