This week (February 2) it was 20 years since FW de Klerk’s famous opening of Parliament speech in which he announced that Nelson Mandela will be released (which happened 9 days later). I can still remember watching the speech on television (I was in college) and realizing that this is an amazing speech signifying a whole new era for South Africa.
Here are 2 beautiful letters written recently by Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu to FW de Klerk commemorating the event. My favorite part is in Tutu’s letter: “If the second of February were to become an annual holiday I would propose it should be called Ubuntu Day. South Africa would tear down its Berlin Wall, you said, because South Africans were dependent on one another – all of us.”
Read and enjoy!
Letter from Nelson Mandela to FW de Klerk
Letter from Desmond Tutu to FW de Klerk
