“However, it appears unacceptable in the current super-heated racial climate that any leader from South Africa’s troubled past should be permitted to retain the slightest vestige of honour,” it said.
ABA confirmed De Klerk would no longer speak at the event.
The death of Black man George Floyd under the knee of a U.S. police officer last month has triggered a wave of anti-racism protests around the world.
“At a time like this where the whole world is crying out for recognition and demanding that value be placed on our lives, on Black lives, we think that ABA erred in inviting someone like De Klerk,” said Lukhanyo Calata.
He is the son of Fort Calata, who was killed along with three other anti-apartheid activists by South African police in 1985 in an incident known as “The Cradock Four”.
De Klerk’s foundation defended his legacy of helping South Africa’s transition from white minority rule to non-racial constitutional democracy and for being the only world leader to dismantle an existing nuclear arsenal.
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Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/06/21/world/africa/21reuters-safrica-deklerk.html