The NNP won just 2% of the vote in last year's elections
The New National Party (NNP) suffered a big defeat in the general election last year, taking less than 2% of the vote.
Mr de Klerk said the party's demise would weaken opposition to the ruling African National Congress (ANC).
He told the BBC that a new party was needed, but without the National Party's historical baggage.
The National Party introduced apartheid in South Africa in 1948, and governed until democratic elections in 1994.
Its successor party's federal council agreed by 88 votes to two on Saturday to disband.
Vacuum
"I really believe that the dissolution of the national party creates a void in the party political scene in South Africa," Mr de Klerk said.
We need a fairly young person without any political baggage to stand up and be counted
FW de Klerk
"We need a fairly young person without any political baggage to stand up and be counted and say 'we are going to fill this void'."
"I think there is a need to establish something to take the place of the National Party, but hopefully without the historical baggage which the National Party carried and which also played a role in its demise," he added.
The party pulled out of the government in 1996 and was relaunched to try to make a break with the past.
But last year's election saw the NNP win just seven seats in parliament.
'Injustice'
This prompted the party to join forces with its former enemy, the ANC, which took over in the first multi-racial elections.
However, it failed to carve out a new identity for itself.
The party will formally cease to exist after the forthcoming local government elections, which it will not contest.
Party leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk apologised for the apartheid years under the National Party, which he said was "a system grounded in injustice".
Mr van Schalkwyk is currently minister for environment and tourism.
He said the dissolution of the party was throwing off the yoke of history and was their contribution to finally ending the "division of the South African soul".
The former party of apartheid in South Africa, the New National Party (NNP), has finally been dissolved by a vote of the party's federal council on April 9, 2005.  The vote was 88 in favor, 2 against, and 3 abstentions.

This follows a decision under the guidance of party leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk last year to join forces with the ruling African National Congress party (ANC). "The forerunner to the NNP, the National Party, brought development to a section of South Africa but also brought suffering through a system grounded on injustice," said van Schalkwyk.

The NNP was the successor to the National Party, taking the new name in 1997 to distance itself from its apartheid past.  The National Party was the governing party of South Africa from 1948 to 1994, and promoted policies of apartheid and the promotion of Afrikaner (white South African) culture.

Former South African President Frederik Willem de Klerk, who oversaw the end of apartheid during his tenure from 1989 to 1994 as its last white president, called for the creation of a new party to take the NNP's place.  "I think there is a need to establish something to take the place of the National Party, but hopefully without the historical baggage which the National Party carried and which also played a role in its demise," said de Klerk.

Proportion of the NNP share of the national vote have been steadily dropping since 1994, when it received 20.4% as the National Party in the nation's first free multi-racial elections, to 2004, when it received 1.7%.

Other prominent South African parties include the ANC (African National Congress), ruling party with 69.7% of the 2004 vote; and the Democratic Alliance (DA), a liberal party which is the official opposition party to the ANC, and received 12.4% of the 2004 vote.  Until being dissolved the NNP was the fifth largest party in the country.

Concerns have been expressed about the long-term unchecked dominance of the ANC and the possibility for corruption, with Business Monitor International expressing the view that, "While official graft is low by both global and African standards, the blurred
line between the government and the dominant ANC party gives plenty of scope
for abuses."  

Transparency International ranks South Africa at 44th on its list of corrupt countries in its 2004 Corrupt Perceptions Index, ahead of most African nations but behind Botswana (31st) and Tunisia (39th).  For comparison, the United States ranks at 17th on the same list.