Hendrik Verwoerd, was a great south african anti - communist

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's communists. Now the western right wing parties can learn by Hendrik Verwoerd's, by Ian Douglas Smith's and by Verwoerd’s successor, John Vorster, anti-communist's examples.