Cape Town - The EFF in the Western Cape says while it condemns stealing, it welcomes with “jubilation” the news of the theft of the Nobel Peace Prize bestowed on the late FW de Klerk.
According to reports, the prize De Klerk had jointly received with Nelson Mandela in 1993 was allegedly stolen by burglars from a safe in his Fresnaye, Cape Town, home.
“We are of the view that De Klerk should have been stripped off that Nobel Peace Prize and criminally charged for war crimes whilst he was still alive. De Klerk never deserved that Nobel Peace award in the first place as he had blood of innocent people on his hands, including children,” the EFF said on Wednesday.
The party said De Klerk ordered the merciless killing of innocent children in a cross-border offensive to clear a house that was occupied by black youths in 1993 and further, his name was also implicated in a secret meeting in which a decision to assassinate the Cradock Four was taken.
They said it was not true that De Klerk unbanned political parties and leaders who were incarcerated on Robben Island out of the goodness of his heart, but because he knew that the writing was on the wall. Apartheid was not sustainable and had created a conducive environment for a civil war.
“EFF Western Cape submits that in fact that Nobel Peace Prize should have been bestowed on all the victims of De Klerk’s crimes in the first place and its removal should be understood within the historical context and as well as the collective will of the majority of our people who still seek historical justice that is long overdue,” the party said.
“We call for the immediate removal of any street name/s erected in remembrance of this murderer, De Klerk. And we also call for him to be charged for war crimes posthumously.”
De Klerk died in November last year aged 85 following a battle with cancer.
Cape Times