Image:Verwoerd 3.jpg
Hendrik Verwoerd
Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd (Amsterdam, 8
September, 1901 – Cape Town, 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 often considered to be the primary architect of apartheid (the foundations of which were laid earlier), and was Prime
Minister during the Sharpeville Massacre, the banning of the African National Congress and Pan
Africanist Congress, and the Rivonia Trial. He also presided over the establishment
of a republic through a whites-only referendum.
Numerous major roads in towns and cities in South Africa are named after Verwoerd, although some have now been renamed. The
Gariep Dam in the Free State, and Port Elizabeth Airport in the eastern Cape were formerly named H. F. Verwoerd, as
was the town of Verwoerdburg (now Centurion) and H.F. Verwoerd Hospital
(now Pretoria Academic Hospital). Hendrik Verwoerd Drive, in Randburg, is to be renamed Bram Fischer Drive at the end of
September 2007.
In a controversial 2004 poll by the South African Broadcasting
Corporation that asked South Africans to name the top 100 South
Africans of all time, he was voted 19th.
Youth
Verwoerd went to high school at Wynberg. In 1913, the family moved to Bulawayo, part of
then-Rhodesia, where he attended the Milton High School. In 1917, the family moved again, this
time to Brandfort in the Orange Free State. Due to
the worldwide spanish flu epidemic, Verwoerd only sat for
his matriculation exams in February 1919.
Directly afterwards, he took up his studies at the University of
Stellenbosch. He excelled as a student, completing his studies with honours. Verwoerd completed his Master's degree in 1922, and his doctorate in 1924.
Verwoerd is often accused of having been a student of Dr Eugen Fischer, who conceived
of the theories on racial hygiene in Germany. However, Verwoerd's thesis was not on
anthropology or social-Darwinism: Verwoerd was a
psychologist and only much later branched out into sociology. His doctoral thesis was on the psychological effect of emotional dreariness on a person (in
Afrikaans: "Afstomping van Gemoedsaandoeninge"). In the bibliography, Verwoerd cited a
fair number of German works, inter alia those of Freud, but none of
Fischer.
Verwoerd left for Germany after the completion of his doctoral studies in 1925, and stayed there during 1926 while visiting
the Universities of Hamburg, Berlin and Leipzig. His later critics have
at times suggested that this coincided with the rise of German National Socialism in
the 1930s, however this visit predated it by a number of years. During this visit, he might have met with Fischer, but even at
this stage, social-Darwinism was not the focus of Verwoerd's research. He published a number of works dating back to that time,
which are all still available at the library of the University of Stellenbosch:
- A method for the experimental production of emotions (1926)
- "'n Bydrae tot die metodiek en probleemstelling vir die psigologiese ondersoek van koerante-advert" (1928) ("A
contribution on the psychological methodology of newspaper advertisement")
- The distribution of "attention" and its testing (1928)
- Effects of fatigue on the distribution of attention (1928)
- A contribution to the experimental investigation of testimony (1929?)
- "Oor die opstel van objektiewe persoonlikheidsbepalingskemas" (1930?) ("Objective criteria to determine personality
types")
- "Oor die persoonlikheid van die mens en die beskrywing daarvan" (1930?) ("On the human personality and the description
thereof")
His fiancee, Betsie Schoombie, joined him in Germany and they were subsequently married on 7
January 1927. Later that year, he continued his studies in the United Kingdom and then in the United States. Millar, who did an
in-depth study on the early career of Verwoerd, concluded that there is no evidence that Verwoerd had been infected by the racial
ideology of the National Socialists in Germany. He was in fact more impressed by some strands in American Sociology. His lecture
notes and memoranda at Stellenbosch stressed that there were no biological differences between the big racial groups, and
concluded that "this was not really a factor in the development of a higher social civilization by the Caucausians."
Verwoerd's admiration of the American doctrine of "separate but equal" cannot be equated with the racial ideology of the National
Socialists. [1]
Architect of apartheid
- Main article: Creation of apartheid
Verwoerd is often called “Architect of Apartheid” for his role in shaping the apartheid regime's racial ideology and policies when he was Minister of
Native Affairs during the early 1950s. While the apartheid program drew upon many existing laws that restricted Africans'
mobility and deprived them of access to full and equal participation in South Africa's social, economic, and political life, it
was Verwoerd who elaborated apartheid's unique racial ideology and its corresponding policy innovations. Particularly important
in this regard was the policy of Separate Development, which went beyond existing
policies of residential segregation to insist that Africans could only claim
citizenship in the "Native Reserves" - which, under the Separate Development plan, would
become nominally independent "Homelands" - that had been carved out of "White South Africa"
during the 1910s.
The following principal "Apartheid acts" were introduced during Verwoerd’s tenure as Prime Minister:
- The Promotion of Black Self-Government Act (1958)
- This law set up separate territorial governments in the 'homelands', designated lands for black people where they could have
a vote. The aim was that these homelands would eventually become independent of South Africa. In practice, the South African
government exercised a strong influence over these separate states even after some of them became 'independent'.
- Bantu Investment Corporation Act (1959)
- This law set up a mechanism to transfer capital to the homelands in order to create jobs there.
- The Extension of University Education Act (1959)
- This law created universities for blacks, coloureds and Indians.
- Physical Planning and Utilization of Resources Act (1967)
- This law allowed the government to stop industrial development in 'white' cities and re-direct such development to homeland
border areas. The aim was to speed up the relocation of blacks to the homelands by relocating jobs to homeland areas.
A republic
During Verwoerd's term in office, South Africa ceased to be a Commonwealth realm
under Queen Elizabeth II known as the Union of South Africa, instead becoming a republic in 1961,
known as the Republic of South Africa. The creation of a republic was one of the
National Party's long-term goals since originally coming to power in 1948;
and Verwoerd's antipathy towards the British Crown was long standing; as editor of the newspaper Die Transvaler, he
ignored the British Royal Family's tour of South Africa in 1947, with one news item
only referring in passing to 'congestion caused by some visitors from overseas'.
The opposition United Party and many English-speaking whites of
British descent were opposed to a republic, but once again, Verwoerd changed the law to
his advantage: He lowered the voting age for whites to 18, and allowed whites in South West
Africa to vote. On 5 October 1960 a referendum was held in which white voters were asked "Do you support a republic for the
Union?" — 52 percent voted 'Yes'. Johannes Gerhardus Strijdom's government
had brought in a rule requiring governments to seek 2/3 approval of the electorate before carrying out a constitutional change,
but this rule was ignored: Verwoerd barely managed to cross the 50% threshold. He persuaded many South Africans that given the
first assassination attempt on him, Harold Macmillan's Winds of Change speech and international condemnation following the Sharpeville massacre, South Africa would have to go it alone by becoming a republic. Many South
Africans of English origin voted for the change believing that South Africa would remain in
the Commonwealth, suggesting that there may have been significant numbers of Afrikaners
opposed to the change, given that they made up a much larger proportion of the voting population. Verwoerd also managed to
persuade them by keeping the system of government almost exactly the same (except that the president would be chosen by both
houses). The Republic of South Africa came into existence on 31 May 1961, chosen because it was the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of
Vereeniging that had brought the Anglo-Boer War to an end in 1902.
Following India's assumption of republic status, it was agreed by Commonwealth leaders that
being a republic was not incompatible with membership, but that a Commonwealth Realm
would have to reapply for Commonwealth membership if it became a republic.
At the meeting of Commonwealth Prime Ministers held in London, Verwoerd argued
that apartheid was just a matter of good labour policy. However, a number of Commonwealth Prime Ministers, particularly
John Diefenbaker of Canada, denounced apartheid and
argued that racial equality was a principle of Commonwealth membership. As a result of widespread opposition from the leaders of
non-white New Commonwealth countries as well as Old
Commonwealth member Canada and the threat that several countries would resign from the Commonwealth if South Africa's
application was approved, Verwoerd withdrew South Africa's application to remain a member of the Commonwealth on 15 March 1961. South Africa's membership officially lapsed on 31 May when it officially became a republic.
South Africa's Commonwealth membership was restored in 1994, although it remains a republic.
Assassination
On 16 April 1960, Verwoerd was shot and
injured by David Pratt while opening the Rand Easter Show at
Milner Park, Johannesburg. Pratt was declared insane and
sent to a psychiatric institution in Bloemfontein, committing suicide a few months later.
In 6 September 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.
Tsafendas's motive for killing Verwoerd remains unclear. Tsafendas had a Mozambican mother
and, although not racially classified as a "coloured", he had 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.
Silver medal commemorating Verwoerd's life.
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."
Verwoerd's funeral took place on 10th September 1966.
References
See also
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
