Cold Open

It’s a warm, sunny afternoon on April 9th, 1960, in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Thousands of people have gathered in Milner Park for an annual fair showcasing the country’s rich agricultural industry. Manufacturers showcase their newest equipment and products while proud farmers display their livestock and produce in hopes of earning a coveted gold or silver medal.

The event is so popular that even South Africa’s Prime Minister is here. Hendrik Verwoerd has just awarded a prize in the cattle category and is stepping down from the podium to return to his place at the back of the stage.

The tall, white-haired Verwoerd takes a seat next to his wife. He smiles at the adoring crowd and is about to give the people a cheerful wave when his attention is caught by a middle-aged man in green tweeds who appears at his side. Thinking the man is a well-wisher, Verwoerd leans closer - only to be greeted by the muzzle of a gun.

Two shots ring out, and Verwoerd falls to the ground.

Screams ring out across the park as security guards tackle the man and wrestle the gun from his hands. Verwoerd’s wife throws her arms around him, but there’s nothing she can do. Verwoerd is bleeding from two holes in his cheek and ear. There’s pandemonium in the crowd as people rush away to safety. Everyone assumes that the Prime Minister of South Africa is dead and no one wants to be next.

Despite the fears of those in the crowd that day, Hendrik Verwoerd survives this assassination attempt. But not everyone in South Africa is happy to see the Prime Minister live. Hendrik Verwoerd is proud to be known as the man who created apartheid, the systematic segregation of races that divides South African society. And while this assassination attempt falls short, another one in only a few short years will have a very different outcome, when Verwoerd is stabbed to death in Cape Town on September 6th, 1966.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is September 6th, 1966: The Assassination of the Architect of Apartheid.

Act One

It’s May 26th, 1948 in Cape Town, South Africa, twelve years before the first assassination attempt on Hendrik Verwoerd.

At the busy headquarters of the National Party, Daniel Malan moves impatiently around the offices, fidgeting as he awaits word on the results of the General Election. At the age of 74, Malan has been an active politician for over three decades. But now he hopes to become Prime Minister of South Africa for the first time.

The Union of South Africa was formed out of several former Dutch and British colonies. Having become effectively independent in 1931, South Africa is now a self-governing dominion of the British Empire, similar to Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. But any new freedoms that independence brought have not extended to the country's majority Black population. South Africa has a long history of segregation and racism, and tensions between communities have only grown in recent years. During World War II, rapid economic development attracted large numbers of Black migrant workers to South Africa’s largest cities. There, they filled the gaps left behind by white laborers who had joined the country’s war effort - but they stayed even after the war ended. The South African government, though, has done little to provide for these newcomers by investing in new housing or social services. Black workers are forced to live in unhealthy, overcrowded slums. They are denied access to education and higher-paying jobs. Disillusioned by this poor treatment, they have recently begun to organize and demand land, representation, and more rights.

This development frightens many in the white community. And it’s those fears about the growing power of the Black population that Daniel Malan and the National Party have tried to exploit in their general election campaign.

The election system in South Africa almost totally excludes Black people. So, the National Party only needs to appeal to the 20% of the population who are white. Daniel Malan has built his platform around policies of even stricter racial segregation between Black and white communities, and tough protections for the jobs of the white working class. So far, his hardline populist manifesto appears to be close to taking him into power.

At the National Party’s headquarters, the rooms and offices fall silent as the results of the election filter in. Malan doesn’t expect to win the popular vote, but he doesn’t need to. In the South African system, it’s not just about winning the most votes - it’s about winning the right votes in the right places. And sure enough, as the night wears on, it becomes clear that although the National Party trails its main opponent by over ten points, it is still on track to win the most seats in the National Assembly.

When the results are confirmed, the National Party and its allies have won 79 out of the 153 seats - enough for a narrow majority and for Daniel Malan to form a new government. Eight days after the election, on June 4th, 1948, Malan becomes South Africa’s new Prime Minister. And he immediately sets to work introducing the strict racial segregation measures he promised his voters.

Quickly thereafter, there are new penalties for Black people entering areas designated as Whites-only. The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act makes it illegal for any white person to marry someone of another race. And with the Immorality Amendment Act, sexual relations between people of different races also become a punishable crime.

Soon, this systematic segregation will be given a name – Apartheid - a word which means “separation” or “apart” in the Afrikaans language. Under apartheid, with every day the new government is in power, Black people in South Africa face yet more restrictions on their property, education, and political rights.

Daniel Malan’s authoritarian and racist policies are designed to forever entrench the power of the white minority in South Africa. They have helped him sweep into power. But despite this political victory, not all is well in the National Party. Factions will emerge in the new government over exactly how apartheid law should be introduced and managed. Soon, Prime Minister Malan will find himself fighting not just for control of the country, but for control of his own party. The stage will be set for an increasingly ambitious younger politician who has already begun hatching a scheme to rebuild South Africa in his own image.

Act Two

It’s 1950 at the National Party headquarters in Cape Town, two years after a General Election brought a new hardline government to power in South Africa.

49-year-old Hendrik Verwoerd sits behind the desk in his well-appointed office, his fingers furiously punching at the keys of a typewriter. Verwoerd has recently been appointed Minister of Native Affairs by Prime Minister Daniel Malan. It’s part of Verwoerd’s job to implement the National Party’s vision for an apartheid state. But Verwoerd has his work cut out for him.

Within the National Party, there are three competing factions. Each with its own vision of how apartheid should work. The largest group advocates for the involvement of Black workers in the South African economy so long as they can be controlled to advance the economic interests of the white community.

The second factions are “purists” believing in “vertical segregation” - the immediate, total separation of Black and white populations, with Black people confined to living in what they term “native reserves.” These purists believe this approach will eventually lead to white South Africa shaking off its growing dependence on Black labor and restoring the white working-class jobs they say have disappeared since World War II.

Verwoerd, however, is a member of the third faction. It sympathizes with the aims of the purists but recognizes that an immediate and total segregation of white and Black populations is impossible. So, Verwoerd and his allies in the National Party want to permit the use of Black labor as a stop-gap, a stepping stone toward the ultimate goal of complete racial separation.

Verwoerd’s faction though, is outnumbered. Still, he isn’t deterred. He has a vision for the future of South Africa wanting the country to be divided into multiple ethno-states, but all ruled by the white minority. He also wants South Africa to be truly independent, to become a republic free of any ties to its former colonial masters in Great Britain.

And Verwoerd believes that his new role as Minister of Native Affairs will help him achieve these goals. So today, he is putting the finishing touches on a new piece of legislation he hopes his party will adopt. The Population Registration Act proposes that inhabitants of South Africa be classified and registered in accordance with his or her racial characteristics. Under this act, the status and prospects of all of South Africa’s citizens will depend even more on race alone. 

When the proposal reaches lawmakers in Cape Town, the Population Registration Act passes and is immediately implemented by the controlling National Party. The act is designed to complement other laws as part of the deepening apartheid system. That same year, the Group Areas Act assigns different residential and business districts in towns and cities to different racial groups. Mixed communities are effectively outlawed as a result. And Black residential areas are deliberately positioned far away from where the Black population is allowed to work. And the far larger Black population is also squeezed into far less land than the smaller and richer white population.

Verwoerd’s fingerprints are on almost every piece of this apartheid legislation. The racist system is being built according to his design and its political success makes him an increasingly powerful figure in the South African government of Daniel Malan. But Verwoerd knows that the Prime Minister is an old man. He won’t be able to hold the top job forever, and as the 1950s progress, Verwoerd and other leading members of the South African government begin jockeying for position.

In 1953, Daniel Malan and the National Party are re-elected, this time with 94 seats and a clear majority. But Malan does not serve his second term. Just a year after his election victory, he steps down as Prime Minister at the age of 80.

He’s succeeded by an apartheid hardliner - but it’s not Hendrik Verwoerd. Hans Strijdom is another uncompromising radical, though, and Verwoerd works with him to secure the ongoing rule of the National Party and the further oppression of South Africa’s Black population. So, Verwoerd bides his time until 1958 when Hans Strijdom dies at the age of 65. By now, radicals like Verwoerd are in the ascendancy in the National Party, and he is the clear choice to take over as Prime Minister.

Verwoerd's new status gives him the power to pursue his long-term vision for South Africa. And in January 1960, he announces a referendum on the country cutting ties with Great Britain and becoming a fully independent republic. Only whites are allowed to vote, and yet still, Verwoerd changes the rules to gain any advantage he can in the contest. Probably because he knows, he will win only narrowly.

Not all whites in South Africa agree with Verwoerd. And some are even willing to take extreme action against him. The same year that Verwoerd barely wins the referendum vote, there is an assassination attempt on him at Milner Park in Johannesburg. He survives the attack, but it won’t be the last attempt to bring an end to Verwoerd’s political project through violence. Hendrik Verwoerd is at the height of his powers. But he won’t have long to live.

Act Three

It’s September 6th, 1966 at the House of Assembly in Cape Town, South Africa.

48-year-old Dimitri Tsafendas hurries through the hallways of the parliament building. Dimitri is a Greek-Mozambican immigrant who recently started work as a parliamentary messenger. But he applied for the job under false pretenses. The real reason he's here is to kill the South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd.

Dimitri is a political activist and a member of the outlawed South African Communist Party. He believes apartheid is wrong, and is prepared to do something about it. So, he’s been planning this day for months.

As Prime Minister, Verwoerd has continued his relentless pursuit of a racially segregated South Africa. But increasingly he's met by opposition, not just from South African activists, but also from the international community. There is growing pressure for South Africa to rethink its divisive social and economic policies.

But for dissidents like Dimitri Tsafendas, these international campaigns are too slow-moving - and too unambitious. He’s in favor of more radical, direct action.

Dimitri raises no suspicions as he makes his way through the parliament building and into the debating chamber. Once inside, he spots Verwoerd sitting in a chair. He draws a knife quickly and silently from his belt and, striding over, stabs Verwoerd four times in the chest. Other members of parliament quickly pull Dimitri away, but it’s too late. Verwoerd is rushed to a nearby hospital where he is pronounced dead.

But Verwoerd’s death will not bring about the end of apartheid. The cruel system of segregation he built will continue for decades to come.

But steadily, over the years, the global anti-apartheid protest movements will gain momentum. Year by year the pressure will grow, slowly at first, but eventually becoming undeniable. In the late 1980s, the apartheid government of South Africa will finally fall. And in 1994, there will be free elections in the country where all citizens of all races will be entitled to vote. For the Black population of South Africa during this time, the journey toward freedom will be a long and hard road. But the day will come when they will be free of the oppressive regime designed by Hendrik Verwoerd, the architect of apartheid who was assassinated on September 6th, 1966.

Outro

Next on History Daily. September 9th, 1971. Prisoners seize control of the Attica Correctional Facility in the bloodiest prison uprising in US history.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammad Shahzaib.

Sound design by Gabriel Gould.

Music by Thrumm.

This episode is written and researched by Scott Weiss.

Edited by William Simpson.

Managing producer Emily Burke.

Executive Producers are William Simpson for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.