FREDERIK DE KLERK, SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT: The basis of the new South Africa should be justice. The great majority of South Africans desire a just state.</s>MIKE HANNA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Although Mr. de Klerk, himself, was not really responsible alone for what happened, he was merely the sum of parts of his particular party. He certainly was the ideal person in the right place at the right time because it was patently clear when he made the speech that he meant what he was saying, that he may not have liked what was going to happen, but certain he was going to do everything that he could to make sure that happened smoothly. Among the white minority there was shock, surprise. Among the black majority, there was suspicion. Nobody quite believed that this final step had been taken.</s>NELSON MANDELA: The reality is that Apartheid is still in force. We still have no voice. We can't be members of parliament. The police are still harassing, persecuting, even killing our people.</s>DE KLERK: We are now able to look guard with greater confidence...</s>HANNA: In the months on intense negotiations that followed that speech of his in parliament, Mr. de Klerk played an absolutely fundamental role, together with Nelson Mandela, in holding the whole process together. And there was a particular chemistry that allowed the process to happen far more smoothly than anybody could have possibly expected.
CNN 20: Abolition of Apartheid Laws, February 1, 1991