THE former South African President, Mr F.W. de Klerk, yesterday apologised for the "immeasurable pain" caused by apartheid.
The apology from the National Party leader came as he was giving testimony to the Truth Commission chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, but Mr De Klerk denied responsibility for assassinations and torture.
Mr De Klerk, who earned the Nobel Peace Prize for his reforming zeal in dismantling apartheid, was accompanied by Mr Leon Wessels, another reformist National Party politician who was abused by militant Afrikaner nationalists as a traitor.
The choice of Mr Wessels as a co presenter of the National Party's deposition of nearly 30 pages on South Africa's past conflict was not coincidental Mr Wessels won praise from reform minded Afrikaners and opprobrium from right wing zealots in the early 1990s when he became the first minister in Mr De Klerk's cabinet to openly and unreservedly apologise for apartheid.
As Mr Wessels, a man who has won friends and respect in the African National Congress, flanked Mr De Klerk on one side, Sen David Malatsi, one of the few blacks to hold public office for the National Party, bolstered him on the other.
The choice of Sen Malatsi, like that of Mr Wessels, conveyed a message: it symbolised the reformed National Party's attempt to woo blacks to its ranks and its regret over its past policies of excluding and subordinating the black majority.
Mr De Klerk had earlier entered the Good Hope Centre - where the Truth Commission has been hearing testimony from political leaders for the past three days via a side entrance to avoid placard carrying anti apartheid protesters. However, their spleen seemed to be directed more at Mr P.W. Botha, the Afrikaner leader whom Mr De Klerk replaced as party leader and president in 1989.
Mr De Klerk told the Truth Commission he had tried to persuade Mr Botha to co operate in the drafting of the National Party deposition, giving its view of the past conflict. But, he added, Mr Botha had refused to do so. Mr Botha, who was South Africa's president throughout the 1980s, believed that South Africa faced a "total onslaught" from communist forces and had to counter it with a "total strategy".
Addressing the evidence of hit squad killings of black activists that has emerged since the collapse of apartheid, Mr De Klerk acknowledged his government and previous ones had approved "unconventional" actions which "created the environment within which abuses and gross violations of human rights could take place."
But he added: "I want to make clear that within my knowledge and experience [unconventional strategies] never included the authorisation of assassination, murder, torture, rape, assault or the like . . . did I individually directly or indirectly ever suggest, order or authorise any such action."
Mr De Klerk said some members of the security forces accused him of being a traitor for his dismantling of apartheid. "It has now become clear that certain elements misused state funds and were involved in unauthorised operations leading to abuses and violation of human rights," he said.
ANC supporters in the packed public gallery jeered when Mr De Klerk denied knowledge of a notorious hit squad killing but Archbishop Tutu admonished them to keep quiet or be thrown out. "I know how difficult it is to say `I'm sorry' in public," Archbishop Tutu told Mr De Klerk. "We are sure it will have a significant impact." Dr Tutu's deputy chairman, Dr Alex Boraine, added: "I don't think anyone should underestimate the power of a former state president saying, `I'm sorry'."