Nelson Mandela's grandson, Chief Zwelivelile 'Mandla' Mandela, has condemned the charges laid against former president FW De Klerk and former Minister of Law and Order Adriaan Vlok in a statement released on Wednesday.

"We unequivocally condemn the charges laid against His Excellency President FW De Klerk and former Minister of Law and Order Mr Adriaan Vlok as opportunistic, contrary to the spirit of national reconciliation and an attack on the very edifice that underpins our democracy," the statement reads.

Mandela said the Royal House of Mandela called on the newly-formed Anti-Racism Action Forum to reconsider the consequences of their action against De Klerk and Vlok and desist from waking up the ghosts of apartheid.

The forum laid 22 criminal charges against De Klerk and Vlok on Wednesday, for crimes committed against black people.

Mandela said it was inconceivable that any sane-minded person would seek to unravel the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and its process of restorative justice.

"It was this commission that enabled us to move from the precipice of civil war, to step beyond the divisive ravages of apartheid, and to evade the reactionaries who were hell-bent on destroying our democracy at its very dawn."

Mandela added, "As a nation we should unite against rear-guard revolutionaries who seek to undo the hard-earned gains of two decades of democracy... We have worked hard to build a climate in which we can say that South Africa belongs to all, and a society in which all are free to express the diversity of our rainbow nation."

News24.com