Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd

Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd (8 September 1901 – 6 September 1966) was Prime Minister of South Africa from 1958 until his assassination in 1966. Unlike his predecessors, Verwoerd was not born in South Africa, but immigrated at age two with his parents from the Netherlands. A polarizing figure, he is widely considered the architect of apartheid, and was prime minister during the Sharpeville Massacre, the banning of the African National Congress and Pan Africanist Congress, and the treason trial of Nelson Mandela and others. He also presided over the establishment of a republic through the use of questionable electoral practises in a whites-only referendum. However, in a controversial 2004 poll by the South African Broadcasting Corporation, asking South Africans to name the top 100 South Africans of all time, he was voted 19th.

Assassination

On 16 April 1960, Verwoerd was shot and injured by David Pratt while he, as prime minister, was opening the Rand Easter Show at Milner Park, Johannesburg. Pratt was declared insane and sent to a mental institution in Bloemfontein, committing suicide a few months later.

Related Topics:
16 April - 1960 - Rand Easter Show - Johannesburg - Insane - Mental institution - Bloemfontein

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In 1966, Verwoerd was stabbed to death in the House of Assembly by Dimitri Tsafendas, a parliamentary clerk, who escaped the death penalty on the grounds of insanity, saying that a large worm in his stomach told him to kill Verwoerd.

Related Topics:
1966 - House of Assembly - Dimitri Tsafendas - Death penalty - Worm - Stomach

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Tsafendas's motive for killing Verwoerd remains unclear. Tsafendas had a Mozambican mother and, although not racially classified as a "coloured", he had a dark skin. This may have played a role, since he had recently fallen in love with a coloured woman. He had applied for reclassification as a coloured, since sexual relations between people of different races were illegal under apartheid.

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It is also unclear to what degree the murder was a political act. The trial of Tsafendas dealt mainly with the question of whether he was capable of fully understanding the consequences of his actions, and possible motives were never discussed. The attorney general alleged that Tsafendas was a "hired killer", but this was not accepted by Judge Beyers, who ordered Tsafendas to be imprisoned indefinitely at the "State President's pleasure."

Related Topics:
Attorney general - Imprisoned - State President

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