The Republic of South African’s (RSA) former president FW de Klerk has disclosed that he will be undergoing cancer treatment.

De Klerk who turned 85 last Thursday made the announcement on his birthday stressing that he had been diagnosed with Mesothelioma, a statement that comes barely a year after his son succumbed to the disease at the age of 53 in Durbanville.

According to the statement released by the FW de Klerk Foundation, the former president is expected to start the immunotherapy session due next week.

“So far there is no immediate threat and it is our hope that the treatment will be successful,” said the foundation.

However, the foundation has addressed Mesothelioma as a type of cancer that affects the tissue that lines the lung.

De Klerk was the last president to serve under the apartheid era between 1989 and 1994. In 1990 he decided to release Nelson Mandela, leader of the liberation movement, who had been in prison since 1963.

De Klerk won the Noble Peace prize along with Mandela for their work their prolific peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, underlying the foundations of the new democratic South Africa.

However, De Klerk’s legacy was marred by controversy last year after he was accused by the Economic Freedom Fighter (EFF) and other groups of interest for promoting violence during the final days of apartheid demanding his removal from parliament.