Umdwebo Retrospective Lecture at the Luthuli Museum : Former President FW de Klerk

For the Umdwebo retrospective lecture at the Luthuli Museum for 2008, we are proud to announce that Former President and Nobel Peace Prize winner FW de Klerk will be presenting.

Frederik Willem de Klerk (born March 18, 1936) was the last State President of apartheid-era South Africa, serving from September 1989 to May 1994. De Klerk was also leader of the National Party (which later became the New National Party) from February 1989 to September 1997. De Klerk was President of South Africa from 1989-1994. He is best known as being one of the main architects of ending of apartheid, South Africa's racial segregation policy, and supporting the transformation of South Africa into a multi-racial democracy by entering into the negotiations that resulted in all citizens, including the country's black majority, having equal voting and other rights. He shared the Nobel Peace Prize along with Nelson Mandela in 1993 for his role in the ending of apartheid. In 1997, he retired from politics but continues to be a key political icon internationally.

Chief Albert Luthuli was the President-General of the African National Congress from December 1952 until his death in 1967. A recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1960, Chief Albert John Luthuli was the most widely known and respected African leader of his era. Luthuli's home in Stanger, KwaDukuza in KwaZulu-Natal, a meeting place for people linked to South Africa's freedom struggle during the years of Luthuli's banishment, was proclaimed a museum in August 2004. The opening marked the completion of the government-driven Albert Luthuli Legacy Project, which included the launch of an annual memorial lecture, and the unveiling of a bronze statue of Luthuli at the KwaDukuza Municipal Chambers, and a memorial at the Groutville Congregational Church where Luthuli's grave is located.

The house that is now the Chief Albert Luthuli Museum, was under constant police surveillance when Luthuli lived there. Although Luthuli had been banished to his home by the apartheid government, many people travelled there to seek his counsel - among them United States attorney-general Senator Robert Kennedy, who arrived by helicopter for an unofficial visit in 1966. Luthuli and his guest held a private discussion on a wooden bench that is still positioned under a tree outside the museum. The two men discussed the ANC's vision of a united South Africa, and before leaving Kennedy gave the ANC leader a portable record player and recordings of speeches made by his brother, former US president JF Kennedy. The ventilation shafts running beneath the floorboards were once used to conceal documents. According to the Arts and Culture Department, during restoration work on the building, workers uncovered a number of papers dating from that historic era.