Hendrik Verwoerd

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Hendrik Verwoerd bigraphy, stories - Former South African Prime Minister

Hendrik Verwoerd : biography

8 September 1901 – 6 September 1966

Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd (8 September 1901 – 6 September 1966), commonly identified as H. F. Verwoerd, was Prime Minister of South Africa from 1958 until his assassination in 1966. He is remembered as the man behind the conception and implementation of apartheid, a system of racial segregation dividing ethnic groups in the country.

He was Prime Minister during the establishment of the Republic of South Africa in 1961, thereby fulfilling the Afrikaner dream of an independent republic for South Africans. During his tenure as Prime Minister, anti-Apartheid movements such as the African National Congress (ANC) and the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) were banned, and the Rivonia Trial, which prosecuted ANC leaders, was held.

Many major roads, places and facilities in cities and towns of South Africa were named after Verwoerd; in post-apartheid South Africa, most of these references to the creator of apartheid have been renamed. Famous ones include H. F. Verwoerd Airport in Port Elizabeth, renamed Port Elizabeth Airport, the Verwoerd Dam in the Free State, now the Gariep Dam, H. F. Verwoerd Academic Hospital in Pretoria, now Steve Biko Hospital, and the town of Verwoerdburg, now Centurion.

Return to South Africa

Verwoerd returned with his wife to South Africa in 1928 and was appointed to the chair of Applied Psychology and Psycho Technique at the University of Stellenbosch where, six years later, he became Professor of Sociology and Social Work. During the Great Depression, Verwoerd became active in social work among poor white South Africans. He devoted much attention to welfare work and was often consulted by welfare organisations, while he served on numerous committees.

His efforts in the field of national welfare drew him into politics and in 1936 he was offered the first editorship of ‘’Die Transvaler’’, a position which he took up in 1937, with the added responsibility of helping to rebuild the National Party of South Africa (NP) in the Transvaal. Die Transvaler was a publication which supported the aspirations of Afrikaner nationalism, agricultural and labour rights. Combining republicanism, populism and protectionism, the paper helped "solidify the sentiments of most South Africans, that changes to the socio-economic system were vitally needed".

Republic

The creation of a Republic was one of the National Party’s long-term goals since originally coming to power in 1948.

In January 1960, Verwoerd announced that a referendum would be called to determine the Republican issue, the objective being a republic within the Commonwealth. Two weeks later, Harold Macmillan, then British Prime Minister, visited South Africa. In an address to both Houses of Parliament he made his famous Winds of Change speech, which was interpreted as an end to British support for White rule.

In order to bolster support for a republic, the voting age for Whites was lowered from twenty-one to eighteen, benefiting younger Afrikaans speakers, who were more likely to favour a republic, and the franchise was extended to whites in South West Africa, most of whom were German or Afrikaans speakers. This was done even though English-South Africans were slightly out numbered by Afrikaners. The vast majority of English-South Africans were against South Africa becoming a republic and were still loyal to the British Crown.

The referendum was accepted by Parliament and was held on 5 October 1960, in which voters were asked, "Are you in favour of a Republic for the Union?" 52 percent voted ‘Yes’.Osada, Masako (2002). Sanctions and honorary whites: diplomatic policies and economic realities in relations between Japan and South Africa. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 54. The Republic of South Africa came into existence on 31 May 1961, this significant date was chosen because it was the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging that had brought the Second Boer War to an end in 1902. The last Governor-General, Charles Robberts Swart, took office as the first State President.