Former president FW de Klerk on Monday apologised for his reluctance to fully accept the classification of apartheid as a crime against humanity and said he concurred with the wording of the UN's State of Rome, which describes it as such.
The climb-down came amid a furore after his eponymous foundation last Friday likening to "Soviet agitprop" the pressure on De Klerk over recent remarks where he, like in the past, appeared to take issue with the definition of the racial oppression of South Africa's black majority as a crime against humanity.
That statement came a day after the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) disrupted the opening of parliament with a demand that South Africa's last white president leave the National Assembly, terming him a "murderer" and apartheid apologist.
Here is the full statement from the FW De Klerk Foundation:
