Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd was born in the Netherlands on September the
eighth, 1901. The second child of Anje Strik and Wilhelmus Johannes
Verwoerd a devoutly religious man and a shopkeeper. After having been a
Professor of applied psychology, sociology, and social science at the
University of Stellenbosch, in 1934 Hendrik Verwoerd entered politics.
He served for several years as co-director of a social housing project
in Cape Town. In 1936 Hendrik Verwoerd was offered, by Daniel Malan,
leader of the National Party, the founding editorship of ‘Die
Transvaler’ publication, which he took up in 1937 with the added
responsibility of helping to rebuild the National Party of South Africa
in the Transvaal. Die Transvaler was an Afrikaner nationalist
publication supporting the aspirations of agricultural and labour rights
in a combination of republicanism and protectionism. The paper assisted
in voicing the sentiments of most South Africans who believed in the
essential need for socio-economic reform. In 1938, he was elected to an
executive position in the National Party. The Nationalist Party achieved
power in the general election of the 26th of May, 1948. Running on the
platform of self-determination and separate development as it was termed
for the first time, Prime Minister Malan benefited from strong support
in the rural electorates, defeating General Jan Smuts, who lost his own
seat of Standerton. Most party leaders agreed that the nationalist
policies were responsible for the National Party’s victory. Herenigde
Nasionale Party leader Daniel Malan called for stricter enforcement of
job reservation protecting the rights of the working class as well as
the rights of workers to organise their own labour unions outside of
company control. Hendrik Verwoerd was elected to the Senate later in
the year of 1948 and became Minister of Native Affairs (where he applied
his scholarly expertise to learning about the Bantu, and expected his
staff to do likewise) under Prime Minister Malan in 1950, until his
appointment as Prime Minister in 1958. Through his position in political
office Hendrik Verwoerd succeeded in implementing the National Party’s
program. Hendrik Verwoerd gradually gained popularity with the
Afrikaner electorate, expanding his political support with an
overwhelming constituency victory in the 1958 elections. Due to the
untimely death of Prime Minister J.G. Strijdom, Hendrik Verwoerd was
appointed by the Governor-General of the Union of South Africa to
organize a Government as Prime Minister. The National Party’s
implementation of separate development according to Dr. Verwoerd
envisioned a “policy of good neighbourliness”. This included the
institution of identity papers, about which much nonsense has been
written and spoken. Their real purpose was to protect the employment of
africans in South Africa from the multitudes of foreign who sought to
migrate to the country for a better life. Maintaining a peaceful
coexistence with independent neighbouring states and aspiring future
nation states. Dr. Verwoerd realised that the political situation in
South Africa, a result of recent British imperial rule over the nation,
was untenable. Under Prime Minister Verwoerd the following legislation
was passed enabling the course to independence for the various Black
nations in South Africa. Hendrik Verwoerd was Prime Minister of South
Africa until 1966. Renowned
for his intellectual leadership of a nation which he skillfully
steered, through the transition from a dominion of the British Empire to
a sovereign Republic in May 1961. Hendrik Verwoerd is widely
remembered for the pursuit of domestic policies that envisioned the
gradual establishment of free and independent nation states in line with
principles adopted by European powers at the time. South Africa’s
social construct was entrenched during the
years of British imperial rule. With increasing autonomy in domestic
affairs South Africans sought to guarantee their existence on the
African continent by the progressive federation of the territory in
accordance with economic and political stability through the policy of
separate development. In South Africa, this policy was rather one of
overwhelming success in
the preservation and advancement of the myriad of the country’s separate
identities and was a doctrine of state that had the support of the
majority of blacks and coloreds. Under the premiership of Dr. Hendrik
Verwoerd the
South African state invested large sums pursuing development policies in
the Bantu states toward “survival and full development, politically and
economically.”. Industry within the homelands was encouraged through
tax incentives and labour benefits, thus establishing a symbiotic
relationship between the free market and the rapidly developing
economies of each nation state. Industries near, but not within, the
homelands were encouraged, which enabled black workers to commute in
order to stay with their families while employed. Hence the family unit
was maintained by separate development and its associated economic
planning; a situation that has since been destroyed by what the African
National Congress was to call the “correct Marxist-Leninist path.”
Communists were intent on centralizing industrial development within the
cities as a move to break down the homelands and necessitate black
migrant labor. Investment in education, commerce,
industry and agriculture provided for the development of facilities from
primary to tertiary education servicing communities in their native
language. Employment in the autonomous nations was secured through the
establishment of development corporations which funded communal estates
and various enterprises that guaranteed the prosperity of its citizens.
South Africa financed the construction of infrastructure in all the
designated homelands, hospitals, housing, parliaments, stadiums.
Established and trained their individual military and security forces in
the interests of founding viable independent nation states.
The Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act (1959)
Bantu Investment Corporation Act (1959)
Extension of University Act (1959)
Coloured Persons Communal Reserves Act (1961)
Preservation of Coloured Areas Act (1961)
It was under Verwoerd that the generous allocation of land for
self-administering homelands was instituted. The policy was analogous to
the cantons of Switzerland, and was heartily and openly supported by
Verwoerd’s friend, Field Marshall Montgomery, and even by the UN
Secretary General, Dag Hammarskjöld.The Republican ideal was a long term
goal for the National Party in South Africa. In January of 1960,
Hendrik Verwoerd announced that a referendum would be called to
determine the Republican issue, the objective being a Republican form of
government within the Commonwealth of Nations. Two weeks later, British
Prime Minister Harold McMillan visited South Africa. In an address to
both Houses of Parliament MacMillan made his infamous Winds of Change
speech. The South African parliament accepted the referendum and on the
fifth of October, 1960 voters were asked if they favoured a Republic
for the Union. The majority of the electorate voted in favour. The
Republic of South Africa came into existence on the 31st of May 1961.
Hendrik Verwoerd’s popularity and accomplishments in South Africa as
well as abroad were overwhelming, Dr. Verwoerd’s staunchest critics
could not avoid recognizing the Prime Minister’s success. The Rand Daily
Mail published the following on the 30th of July, 1966:
"At the age of 65 Dr. Verwoerd has reached the peak of a remarkable
career. No other South African Prime Minister has ever been in such a
powerful position in the country. He is at the head of a massive
majority after a resounding victory at the polls. The nation is
suffering from a surfeit of prosperity and he can command almost
unlimited funds for all that he needs at present in the way of military
defence. He can claim that South Africa is a shining example of peace in
a troubled continent, if only, because overwhelming domestic power can
always command peace. Finally, as if that were not enough, he can face
the session (of parliament) with the knowledge that, short of an
unthinkable show of force by people whom South Africans are rapidly
being taught to regard as their enemies, he can snap his fingers at the
United Nations. Thanks to the recent judgement of the Hague Court (on
the South West Africa issue) he can afford to condescend to the world
body, graciously remaining a member as long as it suits him. Indeed, the
Prime Minister has never had it so good.”
Hendrik Verwoerd’s government secured a stable and prosperous
environment to the benefit of all South Africans including foreign and
migrant populations. Living standards for blacks rose 5.4% per annum
versus 3.9% for Whites.
South Africa’s economic growth by 1965 was second highest in the world
at 7.9%. Inflation stood at a mere 2% and the prime interest rate at
only 3% per annum. Domestic savings were so great that the Republic of
South Africa needed no foreign loans for normal economic expansion. A
large portion of the South African budget was invested in development
for blacks within South Africa and in the Nation States. Blacks in South
Africa had a far superior standard of living in comparison to the rest
of Africa. Superior health care gave black South Africans a vastly
inferior infant mortality boosting population growth. Citizens of the
Bantu States in South Africa owned more wealth than all other African
countries combined. Thousands of blacks from neighboring countries would
constantly attempt to enter the country illegally in order to share in
that security and prosperity. Such achievements were bound to attract
the envy of powerful foreign and malevolent domestic foes. A few months
preceding Hendrik Verwoerd’s assassination, the editor of the British
periodical, “Statist”, Paul Bareau, wrote:
"South Africa is in the midst of a massive boom. Attracted by cheap
labour, a gold backed currency and high profits, investors from all over
the world have ploughed money into the country, and the new industries
that they have started have sent production, consumption – and the
demand for labour – soaring. Such are the proportions of prosperity"
Numerous quotes of this nature bear witness to the success of Dr.
Verwoerd’s policies. South Africa had become an emerging economic and
military power a stabilizing force amongst an increasingly unstable
continent. South Africa was therefore a threat to Communist interests
seeking to exploit the valuable resources of a weakened post colonial
Africa. The Rivonia Trial in 1963 provided added ammunition for the
opponents of
Verwoerd, when a terrorist Communist party conspiracy had been
unearthed. This network of Communist terrorists had planned a bombing
campaign against civilian targets. On the 16th of April, 1960 Dr.
Verwoerd was shot and injured by David Pratt during the opening ceremony
of the Rand Easter Show at Milner Park in Johannesburg. Pratt was
declared insane and sent to a psychiatric institution in Bloemfontein,
committing suicide a few months later. The Attorney General had a
strong suspicion that the murder was politically motivated and that a
rootless colored man, Michaelatos Tsafendas was a “hired killer”.
Tsafendas was incarcerated indefinitely. On hearing of Hendrik
Verwoerd’s assassination, the then Prime Minister of Rhodesia, Ian
Douglas Smith said:
"To those who knew him personally, and I count myself as one of those
who had this privilege. His deep sincerity in everything he undertook,
his gentleness and his kindness towards all people. His championing of
civilized and Christian ideals, and his wise counsels in times of peace
and adversity will be greatly missed."
Hendrik Verwoerd’s funeral took place on September 10, 1966. Hendrik
Verwoerd led South Africa through her most difficult stage of
development from a dependent British Dominion to a respected and
powerful force in the global arena. Dr. Verwoerd became the towering
statesman of the 20th Century and he is equal, if not superior to any of
his contemporaries in the Western World. A statesman that may be
evaluated on the grounds of his achievements in the face of
International enmity from the Communist block. He secured South Africa’s
future against the total onslaught, whilst elevating the nation to a
stupendous position of stability and prosperity seldom if ever equaled
in history under the circumstances. By the time he died, Hendrik
Verwoerd had built his own monument which was there for all to see: the
Republic of South Africa.The people had been forged, the country was
militarily strong and resilient, the police and security forces were
effectively dealing with all attempts at subversion and infiltration,
the country’s economy was dynamic, expanding and had become largely
self-sufficient while present South Africa has sadly been reduced to an
irredeemable shambles by ANC.
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