Contrast and Convergence in Nation Building: A Post Mortem on Apartheid and the Lives of Frederik Willem De Klerk and Desmond Tutu
By Godknows Igali, PhD
It was the Ancient Egyptians that entitled one of their intriguing literature "Book of the Dead", adumbrating with rather awry poignancy, and the inevitable duel of humanity with mortality. Death visited its pangs on the nation of South Africa and the African continent as a whole as, Frederick William de Klerk, (1936-2021) who had once ruled the country for six years and ace activist clergyman, Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu (1931-2021) got enlisted in its books. Both men, attained the ripe ages of 85 years and 90 years, respectfully. Strikingly, their accomplished lives were replete of sharp parallels, opposites and ultimately unisons. Not just their country, with the self-styled sobriquet of "Rainbow Nation" a metaphor for its complexion of racial mix mourned them bu...
