Page "F. W. de Klerk" Paragraph 16

In 2004 de Klerk announced that he was quitting the New National Party and seeking a new political home after it was announced that the NNP would merge with the ruling ANC.

That same year, while giving an interview to US journalist Richard Stengel, de Klerk was asked whether South Africa had turned out the way he envisioned it back in 1990.

To which his response was: " There are a number of imperfections in the new South Africa where I would have hoped that things would be better, but on balance I think we have basically achieved what we set out to achieve.

And if I were to draw balance sheets on where South Africa stands now, I would say that the positive outweighs the negative by far.

There is a tendency by commentators across the world to focus on the few negatives which are quite negative, like how are we handling AIDS, like our role vis-à-vis Zimbabwe.

But the positives – the stability in South Africa, the adherence to well-balanced economic policies, fighting inflation, doing all the right things in order to lay the basis and the foundation for sustained economic growth – are in place.

" In 2008, he repeated in a speech that " despite all the negatives facing South Africa, he is very positive about the country ".