Obituary: South Africa's last apartheid-era President Frederik de Klerk dies at 85

Former South African President FW De Klerk arrives to attend President Cyril Ramaphosa's State of the Nation address at parliament in Cape Town, South Africa, February 13, 2020. [Reuters]

South Africa's last white president F.W. de Klerk, who died today aged 85, stunned the world when he scrapped apartheid and negotiated a peaceful transfer of power to a Black-led government under Nelson Mandela.

But while he was feted globally and shared the Nobel Peace prize with the revered Mandela, de Klerk earned only scorn from many Blacks outraged by his failure to curb political violence in the turbulent years leading up to all-race elections in 1994.