FW de Klerk says any move by the ANC to abandon the solemn national consensus that South Africans reached during the constitutional negotiations would destroy irreparably the brave foundations for national unity, democracy and transformation that we have developed since 1994. It would slash open once again the divisions of the past and divide the country along racial lines. Once the powers of independent courts have been sufficiently diluted - it would end the prospect of a society based on democratic values and fundamental human rights. "In this spirit, I would like to renew my request to the government to hold genuine discussions on these issues with those elements of our society – from all our communities - who continue to support the constitutional consensus that the ANC now wishes to discard." Read more here...

FW de Klerk is currently on a visit to the United States of America and has been speaking at a number of universities in the midwest and southern USA. On 6 March he had private discussions on current developments in South Africa with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington D.C. Read campus speech here..

The government is clearly determined to proceed with its present course with regard to the South African Languages Bill that will, for all practical purposes, eliminate Afrikaans as an official language.      Read more here...  

The government's proposed review of the Constitutional Court's judgments should be seen within the context of the ANC’s long-standing  goal  in its Strategy & Tactics documents “to strengthen the hold of the democratic movement (i.e. the ANC) over state power, and to transform the state machinery to serve the cause of social transformation. The levers of state power include the legislatures, the executives, the public service, the security forces, the judiciary, parastatals, the public broadcaster, and so on.    Read more here...  

The Minister of Justice must ensure that his proposed review of the judiciary should not be used to try to impose the ruling party’s particular ideology and world-view on the courts.  The Minister should remember that the courts “are independent and subject only to the Constitution and the law, which they must apply impartially and without fear, favour or prejudice.”   Read more here...  

We should like to congratulate Media Monitoring Africa, "We The People", the media and all organisations and individuals for their initiatives in deciding to celebrate this week as Constitution Week.  We welcome their efforts to inform South Africans about the Constitution and the rights that it protects.   Read more here...  

ANC Chief Whip, Dr Mathole Motshekga, continues the government’s orchestrated campaign to white-ant the courts and, by extension, the Constitution. The government’s problems with the courts arise from the fact that unconstitutional laws and government conduct have repeatedly been struck down by the courts.
Read more here...  

 Mr Malema says the courts and organs of state in South Africa are controlled by the white minority. This is preposterous and far removed from reality.  Read more here...  

 According to reports, President Zuma thinks that decisions of the Constitutional Court should be unanimous and apparently stated that judges were being “influenced by the media.”  The President is also reported as saying that “if decisions of Parliament could be challenged, there was nothing wrong with questioning the judiciary.” If President Zuma has been reported correctly, his remarks cut at the root of the Constitution and the agreements that laid the foundations for democracy, the rule of law and national unity in South Africa.  Read more here...  

The FW de Klerk Foundation hosted a successful conference on 2 February 2012 in celebration of the 22nd anniversary of FW de Klerk's speech that initiated South Africa's constitutional transformation process. The conference, which was arranged in co-operation with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, adopted the theme "Paths to Progress" to investigate alternative approaches to some of the vexing problems South Africa is experiencing in the fields of economic development, land reform, job creation, and education.Download all the speeches here.

On 2 February 2012, the Foundation hosted a very successful Gala Dinner, in celebration of the 22nd anniversary of FW de Klerk's speech that initiated South Africa's constitutional transformation process. Mr De Klerk presented The FW de Klerk Goodwill Award for 2012 to Pieter-Dirk Uys for his outstanding contribution towards promoting goodwill in South Africa.      Read more here...  

The F W de Klerk Foundation is extremely concerned about the recent proposal by the Department of Arts and Culture that  “one of the official languages” that national government uses  “must be an indigenous language with historically diminished use and status”. Because the other language that Government is bound to use is English, the only conclusion that can be drawn from this proposal is that the Department wishes to exclude the use of Afrikaans as an official national language.    Read more here...  

During the FW de Klerk Foundation's annual conference on 2 February 2012,  FW de Klerk called for a national dialogue on South Africa's future and to bridge the widening gap between important components of our society. We need to talk to each other in the same spirit as the 1990s and within the framework of the Constitution. Read more here...  

We are still concerned over proposed legislation that prohibits the dissemination of false or misleading information and action that might detrimentally affect the Weather Service. Whether someting is false or misleading is often in the eye of the beholder. The right to be wrong is protected under our Constitution. Read more here...  

In celebration of the 22nd Anniversary of FW de Klerk’s speech that initiated South Africa’s constitutional transformation process the FW de Klerk Foundation, in co-operation with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, will be hosting a Conference on "Paths to Progress" on Thursday, 2 February 2012, at the Protea President Hotel, Bantry Bay, Cape Town. Please phone Pat at 021 930 3622, or e-mail her at pat@fwdeklerk.org by 16 January if you would like to attend. Seating is limited. Read more here...  

The F W de Klerk Foundation has made a submission to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Water and Environmental Affairs in which it has called for the scrapping of the proposed clause 30A of the SA Weather Service Amendment Bill that deals with penalties and offences since it threatens freedom of expression.         Read more here...

The F W de Klerk Foundation wishes to congratulate the ANC on its 100th anniversary. At the same time, the ANC acknowledges that much remains to be done in the areas of education; job creation; the combating of crime and corruption; the improvement of service delivery and the promotion of equality. The Foundation wishes the ANC well in its efforts to address these challenges and in its work to promote the values, rights and vision in our Constitution.   Read more here...

The F W de Klerk Foundation recommends that the 2011 SA Languages Bill be withdrawn in its entirety because it doesn't provide a rational framework for language policy as required by the Constitution. Read more here...

The F W de Klerk Foundation would like to pay tribute to the late Václav Havel, the first President of the Czech Republic , who died yesterday. Václav Havel was one of the foremost founders of the new Europe, based on freedom and democratic values and retained a keen interest in the promotion of human and political rights after he left office. F W de Klerk deeply admired President Havel and regularly participated in the Forum 2000 discussions that he initiated. Read more here...

The recent Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) judgment setting aside Adv Menzi Simelane’s appointment as National Director of Public Prosecutions illustrates the key role that our courts are playing in upholding core provisions of the Constitution. At the same time, the SCA’s Simelane judgment will undoubtedly deepen the growing rift between the executive and the judiciary. Read more here...

In a speech in Switzerland FW de Klerk addressed the critical problem of the continuing gap between rich and poor in South Africa. The government had taken the wrong steps to close the wealth gap. Perhaps the most important lesson was that if one wanted to promote equality, one should concentrate on the basics. Read more here

Tuesday was indeed a black day for all principled South Africans, for on that day hard fought for rights came crashing down when the ruling party used its majority vote to pass the Protection of Information Bill. Read more here

The KidsRights Peace Prize has been awarded to Chaeli Mycroft of Cape Town.
Chaeli, who has suffered from cerebral palsy since birth, received the highly regarded international prize for the Chaeli Campaign’s work during the past eight years in providing motorized wheelchairs and emotional support to disabled children throughout South AfricaRead more here

The print media is again under fire for its failure to 'transform' and to ‘diversify’. Parliament has been scrutinizing the country's leading media groups and has found them wanting. What about freedom of expression? Read more here...

FW De Klerk says the balance between the positive and negative in South Africa is beginning to oscillate more erratically. We are approaching a pivotal point in our history where all South Africans of goodwill would have to rally around the Constitution. Read more here...

The FW de Klerk Foundation wishes to appoint a constitutional law expert as soon as possible to, as Director, head its Centre for Constitutional Rights. Applicants should have a passionate committment to upholding the Constitution and extensive knowledge and understanding of the Constitution and the process that led to its adoption. Applications, supported by a brief resumé, should be submitted to info@fwdeklerk.org by no later than 30 November 2011.

The F W de Klerk Foundation regrets to announce that Adv Nichola de Havilland, who has served as Director of our Centre for Constitutional Rights since January 2009, will be leaving the Centre at the end of January 2012 to pursue her personal interests. Adv De Havilland will remain a member of the CFCR’s Panel of Advisors and will from time to time continue to assist the Centre with its activities.

The Centre for Constitutional Rights is deeply concerned about the comments that President Zuma made in Parliament regarding the relative powers of the executive and the judiciary with regard to the formulation of policy. The Courts have an undoubted constitutional power to overrule the will of the majority if it is inconsistent with the Constitution. Read more here...

In a speech to London solicitors F W de Klerk said that the new South Africa was founded on the premise that no-one - no majority, no minority, no individual - should ever again be able to unjustly deprive anyone of any fundamental right. “The foundation of our historic national accord was that henceforth relationships between the state and citizens would never again be governed by the arbitrary decisions of this or that group or party - but by the carefully crafted and nationally agreed precepts of the Constitution.” Read more here...

FW de Klerk speech in Germany: Global strategic attention will be increasingly focused on Africa - because of its enormous mineral resources; because of its untapped agricultural potential in an increasingly hungry world; and because of the potential of its people. Read more here

The F W de Klerk Foundation has been approached by a number of employees of the Department of Correctional Services in the Western Cape with regard to the imposition of national demographics on employment practices in the Western Cape. Read more here...

The national census, which began this week, is much more than a simple counting of heads. In many respects it is like a ten-yearly check-up to see how we are faring as a nation. In South Africa, the national census plays an even more important role than it does in most other countries. Read more here...

In a statement on 16 September, F W de Klerk expressed the view that a visa should be granted to the Dalai Lama because South Africa is an open society that respects the freedom of religion. The F W de Klerk Foundation is accordingly deeply concerned over the debacle that has now arisen over the Dalai Lama’s visa application.Read more here...

Although the reaction to the judgment from the ANC, the ANCYL and other factions on the Hate Speech-judgment was predictable, comments that ANC NEC member Jessie Duarte made last week during an E-TV interview warrant constitutional scrutiny. Read more here...

The FW de Klerk Foundation has taken note of Minister Blade Nzimande’s recent comments regarding the Foundation and other organizations that are seeking to uphold the constitutional rights of South African citizens. Read more here...

In his article of 15 August Prof Pierre de Vos ascribes attitudes to the Foundation that it does not hold and that cannot be deduced from its response to Archbishop Tutu’s recent call for white South Africans to pay a reparations wealth tax. We do not oppose the initiative because we wish to defend the “economic interests of white people”, as De Vos claims, but because we believe that that such a race-based reparations tax would undermine the principle of non-racialism and foundational rights to equality and human dignity. Read more here...

Our article on 'The opportunity to draw up the ideal SA Languages Act', was published on Maroela Media on 19 August 2011. The submission of a new South African Languages Bill to Parliament creates an opportunity for everyone who wants to promote multilingualism, to make suggestions on how language policy should be managed in future. Read our article here...

The FW de Klerk Foundation wishes to voice its concern about the proposed 2011 South African Languages Bill, which will become the new South African Languages Act if accepted by Parliament. Read more here...

The FW de Klerk Foundation has taken note of the comments made by Archbishop Tutu at a book launch in Stellenbosch on 11 August 2011. Read our statement here...

FW de Klerk delivered the fifth Mathews Phosa Memorial Lecture on 11 August at the Afrikaans Language Museum, in which he called for an effective South African Language Act that will make the language rights in the Constitution a reality. Read more here...

According to Eleanor Roosevelt universal human rights begin…”in small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any map of the world. … Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.” For an article by Jennifer Lee, an intern at the Foundation, on 'Finding Justice for Women in Small Places', please click here...

The FW de Klerk Foundation has taken note of Mr Malema’s remarks regarding former President De Klerk. They are so silly that they hardly merit comment.

However, Malema’s bombastic outbursts on a wide range of other topics from nationalisation to Botswana - and the inexplicable failure of the ANC leadership to call him to account - cannot be ignored.

Malema and the ANCYL have become a serious embarrassment to South Africa. They are beginning to undermine international confidence in our economy; they are damaging relations with one of the most progressive and democratic states in Africa; and they are eroding the inter-community reconciliation that President Mandela worked so hard to promote.

In his article titled 'How stable is South Africa?", Prof Lawrence Schlemmer provides an excellent overview of the challenges confronting South Africa. It was published with the assistance of the Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit (FNF). The views presented in the article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of FNF.

Lawrence Schlemmer is former Vice President of the HSRC and professor, now an executive director of a research company, MarkData. Download the article here.

"In South Africa, a critically important factor in determining our prospects for continuing sustainable development will be the political, social and economic environment during the coming years. My topic today is accordingly the constitutional requirements for sustainable development in South Africa."

On 26 July 2011, FW de Klerk delivered a speech to the 2011 Insurance Conference in Sun City, titled The Constitutional Requirements for Sustainable Development. Download the speech here.

Should one really worry about Ms Samantha Vice’s anguished and introspective ruminations in her article on being white and about enjoying ‘whitely’ privileges, recently published in the Journal for Social Philosophy? Unfortunately, one must. Even Max du Preez, hardly known as a defender of ‘whiteliness’, was jolted into responding. The trouble is that ideas - even from the deepest recesses of provincial academia - can have consequences. Read more here on why Ms Vice’s views must be challenged.