Background and Early Career
The name 'de Klerk' (literally meaning "the clerk" in Dutch) is derived from Le Clerc, Le Clercq, and de Clercq and is of French Huguenot origin, as are a great number of other Afrikaans surnames, reflecting the French Huguenot refugees who settled in the Cape beginning in the 17th century alongside the Dutch, after they escaped religious persecution in France. de Klerk noted that he is of Dutch descent, with an Indian ancestor. He is also said to be descended from the Khoi interpreter known as Krotoa or Eva.
Born in Johannesburg to Johannes "Jan" de Klerk and Hendrina Cornelia Coetzer - "her forefather was a Kutzer who stems from Austria". He came from a family environment in which the conservatism of traditional white South African politics was deeply ingrained. His paternal great-grandfather was Senator Johannes Cornelis "Jan" van Rooy. His aunt was married to NP Prime Minister J. G. Strijdom. In 1948, the year when the NP swept to power in whites-only elections on an apartheid platform, F. W. de Klerk's father, Johannes "Jan" de Klerk, became secretary of the NP in the Transvaal province and later rose to the positions of cabinet minister and President of the Senate, becoming interim State President in 1975. His brother Willem is a liberal newspaperman and one of the founders of the Democratic Party. de Klerk matriculated from Monument High School in Krugersdorp. de Klerk graduated in 1958 from the Potchefstroom University with BA and LL.B degrees (the latter cum laude). Following graduation, de Klerk practised law in Vereeniging in the Transvaal. In 1959 he married Marike Willemse, with whom he had two sons and a daughter.
"F.W.", as he became popularly known, was first elected to the House of Assembly in 1969 as the member for Vereeniging, and entered the cabinet in 1978. de Klerk had been offered a professorship of administrative law at Potchefstroom in 1972 but he declined the post because he was serving in Parliament. In 1978, he was appointed Minister of Posts and Telecommunications and Social Welfare and Pensions by Prime Minister Vorster. Under Prime Minister P.W. Botha, he held a succession of ministerial posts, including Posts and Telecommunications and Sports and Recreation (1978–1979), Mines, Energy and Environmental Planning (1979–1980), Mineral and Energy Affairs (1980–1982), Internal Affairs (1982–1985), and National Education and Planning (1984–1989). He became Transvaal provincial National Party leader in 1982. In 1985, he became chairman of the Minister's Council in the House of Assembly.
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