FW may sue for libel

Former President F W de Klerk is considering legal action following claims he received millions of dollars in exchange for handing over the country to the ANC.

HNP leader Willie Marais told The Citizen the allegations were made by former State President P W Botha in an interview with a Dutch newspaper a few days before his death.

Marais said Botha claimed De Klerk had received between three and four million US dollars, honorary doctorates and the Nobel Peace Prize “in exchange for handing over the country to the ANC”.

The HNP leader said Botha had claimed he was made a similar offer, but had rejected it. Asked who had made the offer, Marais said Botha did not mention who the generous donor was.

“I have written a letter to Mr De Klerk demanding his explanation,” Marais said.

“We want to know when Mr De Klerk received the money and why he has not declared that money.

“We also want to know why the Scorpions are not looking into the matter,” the HNP leader said.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Makhosini Nkosi said he was not aware of the HNP request for an investigation.

“However, such allegations do not fall within the scope of the Scorpions.”

In his response, De Klerk said the allegations were, in the view of his legal advisers, “libellous”.

He reserved the right to take whatever action he deemed fit.

“Instead of hankering back to racist domination and fairy tale Volkstaat, the HNP should accept the reality of the new SA."

“It should support the efforts of the F W de Klerk Foundation to protect the constitutional rights of all South Africans – including the culture and rights of Afrikaners.”

De Klerk said the prizes he was awarded by the international community – particularly the Nobel Peace Prize – were all a matter of public record.

They were awarded long after he and the government had committed themselves to the essential and unavoidable course of democratic constitutional reform.

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