South Africa's last white president Frederik Willem de Klerk dies

South Africa's last white president Frederik Willem (FW) de Klerk has died at the age of 85.

Mr de Klerk was reported dead Thursday morning at his home in Cape Town according to a statement by the FW de Klerk Foundation.

He was head of state between September 1989 and May 1994 and in 1990 announced he was releasing anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela. 

The move alongside further actions led to multi-party polls in 1994 which helped bring an end to apartheid-era South Africa.

FW de Klerk became one of South Africa's two deputy presidents after the multi-party elections in 1994 that saw Mr Mandela become president.