Wilhelm Verwoerd | |
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Born | |
Political party | African National Congress |
Spouses | |
Children | 2 |
Relatives |
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Education | Stellenbosch University University of Oxford University of Johannesburg |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Reconciliation and Social Justice facilitator and researcher |
Institutions | Stellenbosch University |
Wilhelm Johannes Verwoerd (born 21 February 1964) [1] is a South African facilitator and researcher based at Stellenbosch University and a social activist. The grandson of Hendrik Verwoerd, known as the architect of the apartheid regime, Verwoerd has disavowed the views with which his family is widely associated and joined the ANC. [1]
Born in Pretoria to Wilhelm and Elise (née Smit) Verwoerd on 21 February 1964, Wilhelm is a member a prominent Afrikaner family. His grandfather was South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd. Although raised in a family and environment that frowned on racial integration, he changed his stance on apartheid after studying in the Netherlands and at Oxford University.
He holds an MA in Philosophy from Stellenbosch University in 1989, [2] an Oxford MA automatically awarded after reading for a BA in PPE from the University of Oxford and a PhD in Applied Ethics from the University of Johannesburg. [1]
Verwoerd's research focuses largely on reconciliation, forgiveness and apology, on which he has written several articles. He was a researcher in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He worked as a programme co-ordinator and a co-facilitator in Ireland, within the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation's Survivors and former Combatants Programme between 2002 and 2011. He is a former co-director of Beyond Walls Ltd. From 2019 he is a senior researcher and facilitator within Studies in Historical Trauma and Transformation, Stellenbosch University.
In 1992, Verwoerd formally joined the ANC, which drew a lot of criticism and threats from militant Afrikaners - given his family roots. [3] This brought strife with his own family. [4]
Verwoerd married Melanie Fourie in 1987, with whom he had two children, Wilmé (born 1990) and Wian (born 1992). [5] They divorced in 2005. Wilhelm later married his second wife Sharon, who is Australian. [6]
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was a court-like restorative justice body assembled in South Africa in 1996 after the end of apartheid. Authorised by Nelson Mandela and chaired by Desmond Tutu, the commission invited witnesses who were identified as victims of gross human rights violations to give statements about their experiences, and selected some for public hearings. Perpetrators of violence could also give testimony and request amnesty from both civil and criminal prosecution.
Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd, also known as H. F. Verwoerd, was a South African politician, scholar, and newspaper editor who was Prime Minister of South Africa and is commonly regarded as the architect of apartheid and nicknamed the "father of apartheid". Verwoerd played a significant role in socially engineering apartheid, the country's system of institutionalized racial segregation and white supremacy, and implementing its policies, as Minister of Native Affairs (1950–1958) and then as prime minister (1958–1966). Furthermore, Verwoerd played a vital role in helping the far-right National Party come to power in 1948, serving as their political strategist and propagandist, becoming party leader upon his premiership. He was the Union of South Africa's last prime minister, from 1958 to 1961, when he proclaimed the founding of the Republic of South Africa, remaining its prime minister until his assassination in 1966.
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