Hendrik Verwoerd

Hendrik Verwoerd (born September 8, 1901, Amsterdam, Netherlands—died September 6, 1966, Cape Town, South Africa) South African professor, editor, and statesman who, as prime minister (1958–66), rigorously developed and applied the policy of apartheid, or separation of the races.

When Verwoerd was three months old, his family migrated to South Africa. A brilliant scholar at the University of Stellenbosch, he was appointed professor of applied psychology there in 1927. In 1933 he changed to the chair of sociology and social work.

Verwoerd became prominent in politics in 1937, when he was appointed editor of the new Nationalist daily, Die Transvaler, in Johannesburg. He held that post until the National Party won the 1948 election, when he was appointed a senator. Becoming minister of native affairs in 1950, he was responsible for much of the apartheid legislation. In the election of 1958 he won a seat in the House of Assembly, and, after the death of Prime Minister Johannes Gerhardus Strijdom, the parliamentary caucus of the National Party selected Verwoerd as his successor in September 1958.

Once he was in office, Verwoerd’s program for apartheid was applied in full, with an intricate system of laws separating whites, Coloureds (people of mixed European and African or Asian ancestry), Asians, and Africans (blacks). He pushed through the Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act in 1959; it provided for the resettlement of blacks in eight separate reservations, or Bantu Homelands (later called Bantustans or black states). These racial policies provoked demonstrations that in March 1960 led to the massacre of Africans protesting the Pass Laws at Sharpeville. On October 5, 1960, white voters by a small majority approved his recommendation that South Africa leave the Commonwealth, and Verwoerd’s dream of a republic came true on May 31, 1961.

On April 9, 1960, a deranged white farmer shot Verwoerd in an assassination attempt that failed. Six years later Verwoerd was stabbed to death in the parliamentary chamber by a temporary parliamentary messenger, Demetrio (also known as Dimitri) Tsafendas, a Mozambique immigrant of mixed descent. He initially blamed his actions on instructions he had received from a giant tapeworm in his stomach, was found to be insane, and was confined to prison or a mental asylum for the rest of his life. Later interviews with Tsafendas revealed that the assassination was motivated by the great resentment he felt toward the arbitrary racial classifications and policies of apartheid, which had adversely affected his life.