SA Prime Minister H. F. Verwoerd stabbed to death

Updated: 20 Jul 2026

Parliamentarian Service Officer Dimitri Tsafendas stabs main architect of apartheid Prime Minister H.F. Verwoed to death. A prior attempt on his life since becoming Prime Minister was on the 9 April 1961, at the Rand Easter Show, where he was shot twice in the face. Verwoed was sitting at his desk in the House of Assembly when Tsafendas attacked him with a knife. During his trial, Tsafendas claimed that a giant tapeworm inside of him had instructed him to kill the Prime Minister. He escaped the death sentence after being declared insane by state psychiatrists. He was sentenced to solitary confinement at the Pretoria Central Prison, where he died at the age of 81. Members of the Greek community in Krugersdorp buried him.

How we know this

01Rob March,Famous South African Crimes [online].Available at www.africacrime-mystery.co.za [Accessed: 04 Sepetember 2013]

Last updated · 20 Jul 2026

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 16). SA Prime Minister H. F. Verwoerd stabbed to death. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012070

South African History Online (2011) 'SA Prime Minister H. F. Verwoerd stabbed to death', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012070 (Accessed: 13 October 2026).

South African History Online, SA Prime Minister H. F. Verwoerd stabbed to death [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012070, (accessed 13 October 2026).

"SA Prime Minister H. F. Verwoerd stabbed to death." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012070. Accessed 13 Oct. 2026.

South African History Online. "SA Prime Minister H. F. Verwoerd stabbed to death." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012070.