The EFF in the Western Cape said while it doesn’t condone theft the former state president FW de Klerk's missing Nobel Peace Prize medal is a sign that he should have been stripped of the medal.
The party’s newly elected chairperson Unathi Ntame said in a statement on Wednesday that, while it condemned all forms of theft, it “welcomed with jubilation the news of the disappearance of De Klerk’s Nobel Peace Prize”.
This followed earlier news reports that the Nobel Peace Prize, consisting of a gold medallion bestowed on De Klerk, was stolen from a safe inside his home. It was also reported that significant pieces of jewellery belonging to De Klerk’s widow, Elita, were also taken allegedly by a staff member who had worked for the family for seven years. Elita told News24 that the theft took place in April, this year.
Ntame said D Klerk, who died last year, should have been stripped of his award and “criminally charged for war crimes while he was still alive”.
“De Klerk never deserved that Nobel Peace Prize in the first place.
“He had the blood of innocent people on his hands, including children,” Ntame said.
He explained that in 1993, De Klerk ordered the merciless killing of innocent children in a cross-border offensive to clear a house that was occupied by black youth.
“This is a man who presided over a system that orchestrated the murder of many… Massacres, assassinations, and blackmail of our heroes and heroines through black violence.
“Not only did he commit these heinous crimes against humanity, but he was also a pathetic liar who denied knowledge of these gross human rights violations committed under his presidency,” Ntame said.
The party also called for streets named in remembrance of De Klerk to be changed, and the former president to be charged for war crimes posthumously.