FW’s ex-wife in ‘suicide’ tragedy

Herald Correspondent

Cape Town – FORMER first lady Marike de Klerk was found dead in her Bloubergstrand flat yesterday after a suspected suicide.

All evidence indicates that Mrs De Klerk – who spiralled into depression after her divorce from former president FW de Klerk in 1998 and a failed engagement in 1999 – shot herself.

Late last night a source said Mrs De Klerk had died from a gunshot wound to the chest. She was 64. A post-mortem will be performed this morning.

Mrs De Klerk was found dead in her upmarket flat at Dolphin Beach, Bloubergstrand, at 4pm yesterday, police spokesman Wicus Holtzhausen said.

Sources within the police said they were not investigating a crime.

President Thabo Mbeki and his family have expressed shock and condolences.

Superintendent Holtzhausen declined to say what the cause of death had been or whether they suspected a crime. Pressed to provide details, Supt Holtzhausen refused. He would say only that a hairdresser had told police she and Mrs De Klerk had an appointment scheduled for 3pm.

When Mrs De Klerk failed to arrive, the hairdresser visited the apartment to investigate. She alerted the building security after Mrs De Klerk did not reply to repeated knocks at the door. Security then called police to the scene. They found the body.

Supt Holtzhausen said the body had not been removed by last night as police were waiting for a pathologist to examine it.

Mr De Klerk said through his spokesman last night that “he and the children have learnt of Mrs De Klerk’s death with great shock and sadness”.

Mr De Klerk, who divorced Mrs De Klerk in 1998, is attending a gathering of Nobel Prize winners in Sweden.

His spokesman, Dave Steward, said last night that the De Klerk family “will not be issuing any further statement until they have received a report regarding the circumstances of her death”.

The Mbeki family said they had learnt with great shock of the untimely death of Mrs De Klerk, and “on behalf of all South Africans, President Mbeki sends condolences to the family and friends of Mrs De Klerk”.

The Mbekis say she will be remembered by South Africans as a strong, charming and dignified woman.

Top ANC official Smuts Ngonyama said: “We are shocked. She undoubtedly demonstrated her deep love for South Africa. As a former first lady, she was never hesitant to respect and support the leadership of a democratically elected government under a black leader.”

DA leader Tony Leon said: “Marike de Klerk played an important supportive role during South Africa’s transition to democracy.”

ANC Women’s League president Winnie Mandela in her tribute said she was not concerned with the political choices Mrs De Klerk had made.

“As a woman, I can identify with the exhaustion of her emotional resources in shaping her former husband’s career. He attained his dream and she became expendable, she died a lonely death while he jetted around the world.”

Former Western Cape premier Gerald Morkel said he and his wife Hazel were deeply shocked by the news. “We shall remember her as a worthy public figure.”

Suzette van Schalkwyk, wife of NNP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk, said Mrs De Klerk’s passing came as a big shock to many women who over the years grew to appreciate her contribution to public life in the country.

“She made a lasting contribution in bringing women from different communities together,” Mrs Van Schalkwyk said.

The publicity around being first lady often sat uneasily on Mrs De Klerk, a naturally reserved person, and ultimately caused her deep pain – even after she left public life.

Marike Willemse met Frederik Willem de Klerk in the late 1950s at Potchefstroom University, while he was studying for an LLB and she a BCom.

In his autobiography, Mr De Klerk said that when they met it was “love at first sight”. He also described Mrs De Klerk as a brilliant student.

They were married on April 11, 1959, and had three children – Jan, Willem and Susan.

She initially worked as a bookkeeper and stayed in the background while FW de Klerk built his political career, so much so that her husband once asked political correspondents to be gentle with her after she had had a facelift.

But with time her confidence grew and she started to play a more active role in politics, albeit in the shadow of her husband.

Mrs De Klerk described herself as an intellectual and saw her role as supportive of her husband.

This did not stop her, as founder and leader of the controversial Women’s Outreach Foundation, from firing a few salvos after the 1994 election at the ANC, when she reprimanded the ANC for throwing lavish parties at official residences and being soft on corruption.

But she sometimes got herself into trouble, too, with her views. In 1989 she was widely reported to have described coloureds as those “left over” after other nations “got sorted out”. The remarks were published by the now defunct Vrye Weekblad.

She was also widely criticised for her opposition to a very public 1989 romance between her son Willem and Erica Adams, a coloured woman. Despite denials, she was frequently accused of having been against the relationship for racial reasons.

She was also once accused by the ANC of snubbing Nelson Mandela, when he and Mr De Klerk were co-recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

And in 1991 she caused another public stir when she said women were “not important”. She said the role of women was to serve, heal and inspire men.

These remarks angered a number of high-profile women, who questioned her judgement on the role of women.

During a 1990 visit to the Netherlands, where her grandfather was born, she called for the Dutch to restore bonds with South Africans of European descent.

During FW’s term as president she relished the role of first lady.

The De Klerks were after 39 years of marriage when it emerged that he had been having an affair with Elita Georgiades, a friend of the family.

Until their divorce in 1998 Mrs De Klerk was seen as absolutely loyal to her husband, and even after the divorce had difficulty in coming to terms with the fact that her marriage was over.

In 1999 Mrs De Klerk was engaged to Johannesburg businessman Johann Koekemoer. He suffered a nervous breakdown shortly after the engagement was announced, and the relationship ended.