Ramaphosa: To deny apartheid is treasonous

President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed his disdain for a contentious comment made by former president FW de Klerk that apartheid was not a crime against humanity.

On Thursday, Ramaphosa said that denying the existence of apartheid should be viewed as treason.

“Apartheid was inherently a crime against humanity; it was a crime against the oppressed people of South Africa even before it was so declared by the UN in 1973,” said Ramaphosa.

“Apartheid was so immoral in its conception and so devastating in its execution that there is no South African living today who is not touched by its legacy. I would say that to deny this is treasonous.”

Ramaphosa said this in his opening address in his response to the National Assembly following the two-day debate about his state of the nation address (Sona).

In a statement released earlier this month, the FW de Klerk Foundation said the UN’s classification of apartheid as a crime against humanity formed part of an agenda by the Soviet Union and the ANC, along with its allies, to stigmatise white South Africans.

The statement also sought to justify apartheid and argue that the institutionalised racial segregation was not a crime against humanity.

This caused widespread outcry, and, during Sona the EFF questioned why De Klerk was in the house. Party leader Julius Malema asked that De Klerk be removed from the public gallery, where he was sitting with former presidents Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe.

On Monday, the foundation released another statement acknowledging the backlash from South Africans and withdrew its first statement.

“I agree with the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation that this is not the time to quibble about the degrees of unacceptability of apartheid. It was totally unacceptable,” reads the new statement.

“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.”

Ramaphosa said that “the actions and execution of apartheid could not be deceived.

“The family of nations of the entire world is made up of people from all over the world and they could never have been hoodwinked, deceived or influenced by anyone they knew as they looked at this country. This was a country where a great crime was being committed against the majority of South Africa.”

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