F.W. De Klerk should have faced justice in the Hague like Charles Taylor

An image of F.W. De Klerk

In the political reality of our world, justice has never been equal. It bends, it selects, and it protects those who benefit from its fragility. Frankly speaking, there has never been anything called “justice” for the Black man or the South African under apartheid. 

 

If true justice existed, F.W. de Klerk, former president of South Africa during the apartheid era, should have faced trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague for the crimes committed under his leadership, including the killing of defenseless children.

 

Like a bird freed from its cage, de Klerk moved on with life, conveniently forgetting the brutal actions, racist philosophies, and oppressive regime he presided over. 

 

Today, he even dares to label Nelson Mandela, a global icon of peace, as a “brutal and unfair” political opponent. He speaks boldly because he knows the European-centered justice system has always favored leaders who carry bloodstains on their hands.

 

De Klerk never deserved to share the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize with Mandela. He released Mandela from prison only because the apartheid system was collapsing under global pressure. Yet he claimed Mandela was “not faultless.” That accusation is absurd. 

 

If Mandela was not faultless, what about de Klerk, whose regime murdered schoolchildren in cold blood? Mandela fought for his people’s freedom; they killed Steve Biko, but they could not silence Mandela.

 

Charles Taylor deserved to face justice for supporting Foday Sankoh and fueling atrocities in Sierra Leone. No one disputes that. However, when we consider the scale of crimes committed by apartheid leaders, decades of torture, massacres, racial segregation, and state-sponsored violence, none of them should have escaped judgment.

 

 Yet every one of them walked away with impunity because they were “white vampires sucking the blood of innocent Black people.” If the situation were reversed, the International Court in The Hague would have lined up every Black leader for trial.

 

The world cannot pretend that justice is blind. It sees color. It sees power. It sees political alliances. Charles Taylor’s imprisonment cannot be used as proof that the International Court is doing a good job. Partiality rules in The Hague, and history has shown this repeatedly.

 

If Nazi leaders are still hunted today for the killing of six million Jews, as they should be, then any surviving apartheid leader, and every foreign leader who supported that evil regime, including former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, must also face justice. 

 

Only then will the world believe that the International Court in The Hague is truly committed to fairness. Justice must not be selective. Justice must not be racial. Justice must not protect one group while punishing another. 

 

Until the crimes of apartheid are treated with the same seriousness as other crimes against humanity, the world will continue to witness a justice system that favors the powerful and abandons the oppressed.

STEVE BIKO: LEGEND OF A POLITICAL HERO

The great Steve Biko: He sacrificed his life to make what South Africa is today.

 

In the political history of South Africa, many are those who fought against the evil apartheid, oppression, mass arrests, detention without trial, etc. 

Along the line with Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo, Chief Buthelezi, etc, in the struggle to emancipate blacks from hardships was Steve Bantu Biko, who died in detention before he could see the fall of apartheid years ago, in South Africa.

Although Steve Biko is gone, his great achievement and his part in the struggle to free South Africa, under the previous white minority rule, will always be remembered. 

Steve Biko, the man popularly known as the "Father of Black Consciousness Movement," was born in King William's Town, Cape Province in South Africa, on December 18, 1946. He lost his father at the tender age of four.

After his primary and secondary school education in South Africa, he left for the Lovedale institution in Alice. He received his higher education at the Roman Catholic Marianhill in Natal and entered the medical school of the University of Natal in 1965. 

As an active member of the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS), his heart was increasingly in politics. He left NUSAS and formed the South African Students Organization (SASO).

Regarded as one of the fearless critics in South Africa, along the line with Nelson Mandela, despite both having different views and options, Biko faced the white regime squarely. 

Not by violence, but through his writings, which he named "I write what I like." The white regime found his writings as nothing but the simple truth and thought his letters posed a threat to national security. He writes:

Black consciousness seeks to talk to the Black man in a language of his own. It is only by making familiar the basic setup in the Black world that one will be aware of the urgent need for the reawakening of the sleeping masses. 

He stressed, "It urges black people to judge themselves as human beings and not to be fooled by the white society, which has white-washed itself to enjoy privileges at the expense of blacks; Biko pointed out that the logic behind white domination is to prepare the Blackman to serve and give him respect. 

Even in sports, Whitman wants to do everything for themselves, all by themselves, by keeping Blacks to stand at touchlines to witness the game they are playing.

In his writings, he always stressed and talked openly against whites, saying that "there is no doubt that the color question in South African politics was originally introduced for economic reasons. 

Because the selfish white leaders installed a barrier between blacks and whites so that they could enjoy what belonged to Blacks. 

To avoid influencing the various Black groups in South Africa, which gave him much support and recognition, Steve Biko was arrested and detained many times under Section 6 of the Terrorism Act in South Africa.

In many cases, he was always released. But on August 18, 1977, when Steve Biko was arrested and detained under the same offense of terrorism, little did everybody know that he would not be seen again. 

He was taken to Port Elizabeth, stripped naked, and tortured to death. His autopsy stated that he died of brain damage. Those responsible for his death lied that he died on a hunger strike in detention.

Unfortunately, Steve Biko wasn't alive to see what he sacrificed his life for: the fall of apartheid. However, on the eve of the 33rd anniversary of his death, it is worthwhile to say that "September 12 of every year should be declared as a public holiday in the Republic of South Africa, in honor of that great man.

If a day in America is observed as a holiday for the civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., then the late Steve Biko should be given that recognition, too, in South Africa. Steve Biko died at the age of 31. He left behind a widow and two boys aged seven and three.