Hendrik Verwoerd - Assassination Attempt

Assassination Attempt

On 9 April 1960, Verwoerd opened the Union Exposition on the Witwatersrand to mark the jubilee of the Union of South Africa. David Pratt, a South African farmer from Natal attempted to assassinate Verwoerd, firing two shots from a .22 automatic pistol at point blank range, one bullet perforating his right cheek and the second his right ear.

Colonel G.M. Harrison, president of the Witwatersrand Agricultural Society, leapt up and knocked the pistol from the gunman's hand. After the pistol fell to the floor, Harrison, with the help of Major Carl Richter, the Prime Minister's personal bodyguard, civilians and another policeman overpowered the gunman and hustled him to the show ground's police station. The arrest was made so quickly and the removal was done so quickly that an angry section of the crowd was frustrated from assaulting the detainee, who was soon thereafter hurried to Marshall Square police station.

Within minutes of the assassination attempt, Verwoerd was rushed – still conscious – to the Pretoria Hospital. Two days later, the hospital issued a statement which described his condition as 'indeed satisfactory – further examinations were carried out today and they confirm good expectations. Dr. Verwoerd at present is restful. There is no need for any immediate operation.' The surgeons who worked on Verwoerd would later claim that his escape had been 'absolutely miraculous'. Specialist surgeons were called in to remove the bullets. At first, there was speculation that Verwoerd would lose his hearing and sense of balance, but this was to prove groundless. He returned to public life on 29 May, less than two months after the shooting.

David Pratt appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrates' Court on 11 April. He was described as a 'socialite and farmer'. He was a respected member of the Witwatersrand Agricultural Society and had been close to Verwoerd on a number of occasions prior to the shooting. In fact, it was later revealed that Pratt had been one of the VIPs sitting next to Verwoerd during the opening of the exposition. Pratt, who claimed he had been shooting 'the epitome of apartheid', was eventually declared ‘mentally disordered and epileptic'. On 26 September 1960, he was committed to Pretoria Central Prison to 'await indication of the Governor General's pleasure'. On 1 October 1961, he hanged himself at Bloemfontein Mental Hospital.