The National Party in the form of its leader, FW de Klerk, appeared before the Truth Commission in Cape Town in August 1996 and May 1997. De Klerk accepted responsibility for the wrongs in South Africa while he was president from 1989 to 1994. He admitted to authorising certain operations against the liberation movements. But those operations, said De Klerk, never included official permission to torture and murder activists. He also conceded that many repressive measures had contributed to human rights abuses during the apartheid era. But the lasting image of De Klerk at the Truth Commission soured almost everyone’s respect for the man who so boldly unbanned South Africa in 1990 and publicly apologised for his country’s suffering.

Credits: Darren Taylor, Antjie Samuel, Kenneth Makatees, Angie Kapelianis, Sally Burdett and Danny Booysen.

Transcript: http://www.sabctruth.co.za/sabctruth/slicesright.htm#call  From the series South Africa's Human Spirit. Available wherever you find your podcasts.

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Additional music: B - Somber Ballads by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Artist: http://incompetech.com/