Former South African President Klerk says apartheid was not 'genocide' or a 'crime against humanity'

In a recent interview with South Africa's national broadcaster, former State President Frederik Willem de Klerk was asked to confirm whetherapartheid - the legalised discrimination against non-white people - was acrime against humanity.

He said that he was "not fully agreeing" with the statement.

Klerk has reportedly apologised for his comments to calm a fortnight ofincreasingly furious debate, as many interpreted his statements to be an attempt to rewrite history and play down the seriousness of apartheid.

De Klerk Foundation issued a statement saying that the 83-year-old expressed regret for "the confusion, anger, and hurt" his remarks might have caused.

Also Read:South Africa: Struggling 25 years after apartheid

A revised statement was issued by the former president acknowledging that it was indeed a crime, and to apologise profusely for his role in it.

Following the "Rumba" approach of addressing divisive political issues, de Klerk insisted thatapartheid was responsiblefor relatively few deaths and that it should not be categorized as "genocide" or "crimes against humanity."

Having shared the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize with Nelson Mandela after helping to negotiatean end to apartheidFW de Klerk was a peripheral figure in the country and his polarising comments went under the radar at first.

Watch:Anti-apartheid campaigner Winnie Madikizela-Mandela dies at 81

The calm before the storm ended when he attended parliament for President Cyril Ramaphosa's annual State of the Nation Address as a former Head of State. The President was interrupted by members of the opposition, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party, who demanded the removal of De Klerk from the chamber.

EFF leader Julius Malema stated that DeKlerk was "an apartheid apologist with blood on his hands".He reportedly saidthat they have "a murderer in the House."

President Ramaphosa was finally able to begin after 1.5 hours, and the EFF's aggressive delaying tactics were widely condemned by governing ANC and other opposition parties as an ''outrageous, shameful stunt''.

[ Former South Africa State PresidentFrederik Willem de Klerk (L),opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party leader Julius Malema (R)(Courtesy: Reuters) ]

Voices, particularly, but not exclusively, of white South Africans called for people to "move on" and to focus on more urgent priorities like fighting corruption, tackling poverty and reviving a stagnant economy.

They also suggested that the furore was being deliberately exploited by the ANC and others to shift blame on to the white minority. Under the Zuma administration, spurred on by the EFF political rhetoric in South Africa has become increasingly racialised. "White monopoly capital" and white farmers have frequently been blamed for the country's slow pace of economic transformation.

De Klerk's comments have reinforced a wider perception among the masses that many white people have never fullyconfrontedthe evils of the past. This is in part, perhaps, because apartheid ended through negotiation rather than a military victory.