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On 24 March 2010 F W de Klerk addressed the attached letter to President Zuma calling on him "to take the lead in moderating the tone of the national debate and in ensuring that it is conducted in a manner that promotes national unity and compliance with the letter and spirit of the Constitution."
Mr De Klerk observed that many South Africans were deeply disturbed by the "increasingly inflammatory tone of some facets of our national debate" - and particularly by recent statements and actions of Mr Julius Malema and the ANCYL. He referred in particular to the singing by Mr Malema of the words "shoot the boers" and to the ANCYL's action last week in trampling underfoot the petition of Afriforum Youth which included the names of 1600 murdered farmers. He was disappointed that the Secretary General of the ANC, Mr Gwede Mantashe, had defended the singing of the 'kill the boer' song.
Mr De Klerk was deeply concerned that such actions and statements were being exploited by right-wing extremists to further exacerbate inter-racial relations. He said that this was beginning to create a volatile atmosphere "in which any additional intemperate statement or action might spark an unfortunate incident". This would be an unaffordable tragedy - particularly on the eve of the Soccer World Cup.
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