THE former president of South Africa and its last white leader FW De Klerk has died at the age of 85.

       De Klerk was a key figure in the nation's transition to democracy from apartheid and instrumental in the release of Nelson Mandela from prison.

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       De Klerk made the historic decision to free Nelson Mandela Credit: AFP 3

       He was South Africa's last president and white leader Credit: Getty - Contributor

       The former president died on Thursday morning at his home in Cape Town, the FW de Klerk Foundation said in a statement.

       "Former President FW de Klerk died peacefully at his home in Fresnaye earlier this morning following his struggle against mesothelioma cancer," the statement said.

       In a historic speech to South Africa's parliament on February 2, 1990, De Klerk announced that Mandela would be released from prison after 27 years.

       The move was prompted by South Africa's deepening isolation and its once-solid economy deteriorating.

       Amid gasps, several members of parliament members left the chamber as he spoke and nine days later, Mandela walked free.

       The announcement had an electrifying effect on a country that for decades had been shunned for its brutal system of racial discrimination.

       The pair went on to share the Nobel Peace Prize for bringing about a peaceful end to apartheid.

       At de Klerk's 70th birthday celebrations in 2006, Mandela heaped praise on his predecessor for taking that leap into the political unknown.

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       "You have shown courage that few have done in similar circumstances," said Mandela, who died in December 2013 at the age of 95.

       De Klerk was the son of a senator and minister from the National Party, which brought in the apartheid system.

       He trained as a lawyer and himself entered South Africa's whites-only Parliament in 1972.

       He headed South Africa's white minority government from 1989, succeeding the hardline PW Botha.

       De Klerk was in office until 1994, when Mandela's African National Congress party swept to power.

       The negotiations on a peaceful transition to non-racial democracy that followed Mandela's release were held against the backdrop of mounting political violence.

       SHOWED COURAGE

       It often looked as though they would be derailed, a scenario that would almost certainly have plunged the nation into a bloody race war.

       He became the the first leader of the opposition after the election and led his party in a government of national unity until he retired from politics in 1997.

       "History has shown that as far as the policy of apartheid was concerned, our former leaders were deeply mistaken in the course upon which they embarked," he said.

       He divorced his wife of 39 years, Marike, in 1998, and married Elita Georgiadis, the wife of a Greek shipping tycoon.

       In December 2001, Marike was murdered in her luxury beachfront home in Cape Town, an incident that underscored South Africa's rampant rates of violent crime.

       The former president was diagnosed in March with mesothelioma, a cancer that affects the tissue lining the lungs.

       He is survived by Elita, his children Jan and Susan and his grandchildren.

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       De Klerk and Mandela shared the Nobel Prize Credit: Reuters

       More to follow...

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