In the past month, we have seen protests in Kenya take deep root, shifting from what only belonged to the youth, to now involving people from all backgrounds. What started off as protests against the Finance Bill 2024, later grew into protests against the current political elite, in totality. Numerous calls for dialogue from government officials have hit a brick wall, as Kenyans are insistent that it’s not time for talk, but action.
The politicians, fearing a potential state of anarchy, have tried to threaten the citizens by telling stories of how Sudan and Egypt fell into deeper problems when they tried to fight for their state. In their remorseful statements, they try to wax lyrical to the youth about how they should simply call off the protests and go home before they destroy their state.
But the question is, or rather are:
- Do the youth have anything to look forward to if they retreat at this point?
- Do these threats mean anything to them if the current political class has already ruined their lives?
Upon asked, this question, some of the youth said that they didn’t care. One said that, “When a man goes out to hunt and kills an elephant, his poverty will end. When he goes out to hunt and the elephant kills him, his poverty will end. Either way, his poverty will end, so why not let him be?”
This brilliant answer seems to be his motto. And that of many others. What the government is facing is a revolt from people who are energetic, very educated, have all the time in the world, and are ready to die for their cause. There has never been a more potent enemy than this one, for threats mean nothing to them.
And in that case, we’ll focus on one such person in the history of South Africa: Dimitri Tsafendas.
Apartheid South Africa
In the two previous articles, we have discussed massacres committed during the apartheid period in South Africa, ie. The Soweto Youth Uprising and the Sharpeville Massacre. The latter involved a protest against the introduction of passbooks to ensure racial segregation was carried out against the natives. This idea was reinforced by the then-Prime Minister of South Africa Hendrik Verwoerd, who was also considered as ‘the architect of apartheid’.
It all started, however, when he was the Minister of Native Affairs in the 1950s. He desired to ensure white dominance in South Africa, to the exclusion of the black majority. To that same end, Verwoerd greatly expanded apartheid. When attempting to justify apartheid to international audiences, he branded it as a policy of \"good-neighborliness\", stating that as different races and cultures have different beliefs and values, they could only reach their full potential if they lived and developed apart from each other. He stated that the white minority had to be protected from the nonwhite majority by pursuing a \"policy of separate development\" and keeping power in the hands of whites.
Verwoerd heavily repressed opposition to apartheid during his time as the Prime Minister. He ordered the detention and imprisonment of tens of thousands of people and the exile of thousands, while at the same time greatly empowering, modernizing, and enlarging the white apartheid state's security forces (police and military). He banned black organizations such as the African National Congress and the Pan Africanist Congress, and it was under him that future president Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for life for sabotage. Verwoerd's South Africa had one of the highest prison populations in the world and saw a large number of executions and floggings.
Who is the true Greek hero: Hercules? Achilles? Tsafendas
If Pitbull considers himself Mr. Worldwide, then I reckon that Dimitri Tsafendas should be his sidekick, Kid Worldwide. Born in a Portuguese colony, Tsafendas was sired by a Greek dad and a Mozambican mother. He then spent his first ten years traversing between Egypt, Mozambique and South Africa for his education.
Dimitri was born into a lineage of radicals, and so, it flowed in his veins. His dad, Michalis, was a very passionate anarchist. His grandparents, on the other hand, were rebels in the Great Cretan Revolution of 1866-1869, which saw them gain independence from the Ottoman Empire.
Therefore, it was not surprising when, at age 16, he was suspected of disseminating Communist propaganda. By the time he was 21, then, he sneaked into South Africa and joined their Communist party, the South African Communist Party (SACP).
When he was 23, he became a seaman and served under the American ships during World War 2. Six years later, after the end of the war, he was deported to Greece, where he went on to join the military wing of the Greek Communist Party, and even fought against the royalists.
When that war ended, Tsafendas left for Portugal, where he was arrested upon entry, for his political activities back in Mozambique. There, he was jailed for nine months. Once he was released, it was made aware to him that he wasn’t welcome in either Portugal, Mozambique or South Africa.
Therefore, he spent the next 12 years in exile, roaming around Europe and the Middle East. In 1961, he finally denounced Communism and was allowed access back to South Africa and Mozambique. In Mozambique, he was arrested addressing the locals on how to gain independence from the colonizers.
Upon interrogation, he mentioned that he was actually a missionary spreading Christianity and that he was, in fact, Apostle Peter. For that reason, he was taken to hospital for a mental check-up on whether he actually was insane.
In 1965, Tsafendas went to South Africa, and, the next year, in July 1966, got a job as a parliamentary messenger in the House of Assembly in Cape Town. It was here where he finally came into close contact with Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd, and as his blood boiled, he started hatching plans to get rid of him.
At first, he considered kidnapping Verwoerd, but his fellow comrades from the SACP were against such a risky and violent action (so much from revolutionaries, no?). The only other option left, then, was to assassinate Verwoerd. He believed that, since he had the opportunity to act, he was morally obliged to do so, believing as he did that without Verwoerd, a change of policy would sooner or later take place.
Tsafendas's initial plan was to shoot Verwoerd, escape in the confusion, and board a Greek tanker that was docked in Cape Town, which he would then sail away with to freedom. Ultimately, his plan was to seek refuge in Communist Cuba. However, he had difficulty getting hold of a gun, and so, he decided to botch this idea. The alternative? A knife.
On 6 September, Prime Minister Verwoerd entered the debating chamber of Parliament and made his way to his seat. Tsafendas approached him, drew a concealed sheath knife from his belt, and stabbed Verwoerd about four times in the chest, before he was pulled away by other members of parliament. He didn’t have an escape plan, and so, he was easily apprehended. He was taken into police custody, where he was severely beaten, and then moved to a hospital where he was treated for his injuries and then thrown back to jail.
The news of Verwoerd’s assassination was received with joy around the continent. From the corners of Northern Africa in Algeria, to Western Africa in Nigeria and Eastern Africa in Kenya, everybody expressed their satisfaction at the assassination incident.
Namibia’s party leader, Uazuvara Ewald Kajivena was heard saying, “The fascist Dr. Verwoerd got what he deserved.” Algeria’s magazine, Revolution Africaine wrote as their headlines, “The most hated man of Africa is no more.” Egyptian newspaper Al Akhbar wrote, “no tears to shed for Dr Verwoerd.” Ethiopian paper New Times read, “The Sharpeville butcher stabbed to death.” And in other places like Nigeria & Uganda, people danced with joy in the streets upon receiving the news.
During Tsafenda’s interrogation, he admitted his reasons for killing Verwoerd. He said, “I did believe that with the disappearance of the South African Prime Minister, a change of policy would take place. I did set myself the task of destroying the Prime Minister. It was my own idea to kill him. No one offered me any reward for doing so. I did not care about the consequences, for what would happen to me afterwards. I was so disgusted with the racial policy that I went through with my plans to kill the prime minister. ... I wanted to see a government representing all the South African people. I do not think the Nationalist government is representative of the people and I wanted to see a different government.”
The South African investigation police concluded that Tsafendas was a highly intelligent man, well-versed in politics, well-read, with deep political convictions and a lifelong history of activism where he considered Verwoerd to be a dictator and a tyrant. Tsafendas had characterised Dr Verwoerd as \"Hitler's best student\", as he believed the South African Prime Minister had copied some of Hitler's Nuremberg Laws and applied them to the blacks in his country, as we had explained above in the article.
At his trial, Tsafendas was considered not guilty of murder, by reason of insanity. It was claimed that he had schizophrenia, even though no mental tests were conducted on him, but rather, the conclusion was arrived simply based on what Tsafendas told them. The court, therefore, ordered him to be detailed at the pleasure of the State President, which meant that only the State President had the authority to order his release.
At first, he was held on Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was, before being transferred four months later to Pretoria Central Prison. There, he spent 20 years in a cell on death row, specifically built for him, next to the execution chamber where men were hanged. In 1989, he was then transferred to Zonderwater Prison, until 1994, when apartheid collapsed and South Africa got independence.
But instead of being released, he was transferred again to Sterkfontein Psychiatric Hospital, where he spent the rest of his life up to his death in 1999. He died aged 81, and this came 33 years after the assassination. At the time of his death, he was no longer regarded as a hero in anti-apartheid circles, and surprisingly so, none of the anti-apartheid members attended the funeral. Matter of fact, there were less than ten people, and he was buried in an unmarked grave. So much for a radical who sacrificed his life for the betterment of a country that wasn’t his, no?
Something he said always stands out to me, each and every day of my life. While in prison, he was visited by two Greek Orthodox priests whom he knew. To them, he said:
“Every day, you see a man you know committing a very serious crime for which millions of people suffer. You cannot take him to court or report him to the police, because he is the law in the country. Would you remain silent and let him continue with his crime, or would you do something to stop him?”
In the wake of the current uprisings in Africa, I’ll leave that to you as food for thought!
Special thanks to Keith Angana for the article.
Join the Lughayangu Community!
