Guard confesses to de Klerk murder

CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- A security guard at the complex where the wife of former president F.W. de Klerk was found dead has confessed to her killing, police said.

The 21-year-old guard, whom police declined to identify, told a Cape Town judge late on Thursday night of his role in the killing, the police commissioner of the Western Cape province, Lennit Max, told the South Africa Press Association.

The man will appear in court on Monday, he said.

De Klerk's body was discovered by her hairdresser at her Cape Town home Tuesday afternoon, about 30 hours after coroners estimated she had died.

State pathologist Deon Knobel said after a post-mortem examination on Wednesday that de Klerk, 64, was hit in the face at least twice and stabbed in the back with a steak knife, which broke, leaving the blade embedded in her body.

He said, however, she was strangled to death. She was found 36 hours later in her pink nightdress.

Police lauched a murder inquiry. Nothing was missing from her house and that there was no sign of a forced entry.

The security guard was detained for questioning late on Thursday night. Among the clues that led police to the guard was a call he allegedly made from de Klerk's cellular phone to tell his employers he would not be coming into work, Max said.

De Klerk: Get a grip on crime

Marike de Klerk was the former wife of F.W. de Klerk, South Africa's last president under apartheid. F.W. de Klerk gave up power to Nelson Mandela after South Africa's first all-race elections in 1994.

The de Klerks divorced in 1998 after 39 years of marriage. F.W. de Klerk married Elita Giorgiades, the former wife of Greek shipping magnate Tony Giorgiades, six days later.

Scores of apartheid-era politicians joined de Klerk, his son Willem and his second wife, Elita, at a memorial service in Marike de Klerk's favourite church.

Provincial premier Pieter Marais, a member of the New National Party de Klerk once headed, and Western Cape leader of the African National Congress, Ebrahim Rasool, also attended the service. Marike de Klerk will be buried in Pretoria on Saturday.

Speaking to reporters for the first time since he heard of his former wife's murder, de Klerk said it had sent a negative message across the world.

Fighting back tears, he said: "We, as a country, are being damaged by every murder. No one murder is more serious than the other. The one on my former wife, Marika, however ... sends out such a negative, damaging message.

"It is my sincere hope that this dastardly deed will once again act as a wake up call to all of us in South Africa that we must get a grip on the crime situation.

"I will continue to dedicate myself to ensure that we take hands in South Africa on the big challenges -- today we focus on the big challenge of crime -- to ensure that across political divides and across whatever divides we have, we fight crime and bring our country back to the strength of much greater normality in this regard," he said.

South Africa has one of the highest crime rates in the world, with about 21,000 murders last year alone.

Victims have included prominent businessmen, judges, sports stars, doctors and lawyers.

Her three children said in a message read for them at the service they hoped their mother would find peace and companionship.

"To the person or persons responsible for her death, we say that vengeance is not ours.

"We pray that at the end of your days, the sting of death, the sin, will be transformed into the victory that only Christ can offer you," they said.