2 September 1958

Hendrik Verwoerd becomes Prime Minister

 

Hendrik  Frensch Verwoerd assumed office as the Prime Minister of South Africa after the death of J.G. Strijdom.  An ardent advocate of apartheid, Verwoerd firmly believed that races should be kept apart and each race should develop along its own lines.

Consequently, under his leadership, parliament ratified the Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act in 1959. The Act classified black into eight ethnic groups each with its own separate homeland.  Verwoerd was stabbed and killed by Demetrio Tsafendas on his bench in the House of Assembly on 6 September 1966.

In 2007, a road named after Hendrik Verwoerd in Randburg Johannesburg was renamed Bram Fischer.

References:

1. Author, (unknown) ‘Former Heads of State, Former Heads of Government and Former Governors-General and their Deputies’ [online] Available at: www.thepresidency.gov.za [Accessed 23 August 2010]
2. Author, (unknown), (2007) ‘Hendrik Verwoerd Drive is no longer’ [online] Available at: www.iol.co.za [Accessed 23 August 2010]
3. Europa World Plus (2003) Regional Surveys of the World: Africa South of the Sahara, 32nd e.d, London p.966
4. Schwerin, A. (2001) Apartheid’s Landscape and Ideas: A scorched soul, University of Rochester Press, p. 2
5. South African History Online (unknown) ‘Biography: Hendrik Verwoed’ [online] Available at: www.sahistory.org.za [Accessed 23 August 2010]