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REPRESENTING THE LARGEST COLLECTION OF 2X2 HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS ON THE INTERNET
The REAL TRUTH about "the truth"
Life and Ministry of William Irvine
CHAPTERS
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Chapter Index
Chapter 16
Revised September 2, 2010
How the Gospel Came to Africa
The Rebellion of the Blacks and Coloreds in South Africa
1966 - Demetrius Tsafendas Assassinates S. African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd
PHOTO of Workers
at 1981 Putfontain, South African Convention
PHOTO of
Wilson Reid
Wilson Reid - A few
biographical notes
Chapter 16
How the Workers Came to Africa
After Asia, Africa is the second largest continent. Africa is over three times as large as the United States. In a direct line, it is about 5,000 miles from Algiers in the North of Africa to Cape Town in the South; and about the same distance from Cape Verde in the West to Cape Guardafui in the East. file:///C:/Redesign/Photos/PhotoGallery/People/12APhotoGal.html#Reid
The Republic of South Africa is situated at the southernmost tip of the continent of Africa, and occupies an area about 1/23 of the size of the whole, with 473,000 square miles. South Africa is somewhat larger than Texas and California combined; or more than twice the size of France. Although a very large country, it is not the largest country in Africa (Sudan is). Cape Town is the second largest city in the Republic of South Africa, after Johannesburg. The first white settlement at the Cape was made as a Dutch refreshment station and mail exchange for their ships which traded between Holland and the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia). The settlement adopted the Dutch language as their official language and it was taught in the schools. The official church of the colony was the Dutch Reformed Church. The number of white people of the Cape grew slowly and consisted of German, Dutch and French immigrants, some victims of religious persecution (Huguenots). They imported slaves from West Africa and Malaya. There was some intermarrying, resulting in “mixed marriages.”
South Africa eventually became a colony. At the turn of the 19th century, when the British annexed the Cape, there were about 25,000 white people in the colony and about 30,000 black slaves. In 1820, the first large group (about 5,000) of English speaking colonist arrived. English took the place of Dutch as the official language, and was taught in the schools. The white Dutch Africans would eventually be called “Afrikaners.” In 1833, all the slaves in the British Empire were emancipated, 30 years before the freeing of the slaves in America. In 1867, the first diamond was discovered at Hopetown. In 1886 gold was discovered in Witwatersrand.
In the first thirty years of the 20th century, whites were a minority with the majority of the African population being Africans (blacks), coloreds (mixed race), and Indians. The population of South Africa is 75% black (African) and 13% white (European), with about 9% people of mixed white, Malay, and black descent (formerly called “Coloured”), and 3% of Asian (mostly Indian) background. About 60% of whites and most persons of mixed race speak Dutch as their native language, with the other 40% of whites speaking English. South African Dutch has diverged considerably from European Dutch, and is now considered a Dutch dialect, called Afrikaans. Many discriminatory legislations were passed against them. Only a few elite Africans and coloreds, and all white adult males were allowed to vote. The interests of the majority of the population were at the mercy of the white minority.
The first attempt to start missionary activity among the natives of South Africa was in 1728 by Georg Schmidt, a German Moravian missionary. The London Missionary Society arrived in the Cape in 1799 and had many missionaries there by 1816; with the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society and the Glasgow Missionary Society arriving soon after. The Church Missionary Society began its work in South Africa in 1821. David Livingstone, a Scottish missionary, doctor and explorer, came to South Africa in 1840 and helped open the heart of Africa to missions.
AND THEN…long after the disciples were supposed to have gone to Africa, and about a century after the first missionaries arrived there, the FIRST workers came along to pioneer the work in South Africa. William Irvine wrote: “In September 1905, I sailed for South Africa with seventeen brothers and sisters, half for Australia and New Zealand." (Letter to Dunbars, October 13, 1920) From this comment and the following one, it seems that eight of the seventeen workers disembarked from the ship in South Africa--four brothers and four sisters. (Wm Irvine was not one of them.) Eldon Tenniswood wrote a letter to “My dear family, fellow-workers and friends” about his trip to Africa. He stated:
“The first workers came to South Africa in 1905 and were Walter (should be Wilson) Reid, Alex Pearce, John Cavanagh, Joe Kerr, Mary Moodee,(sic) Martha Skerritt, Lilly Reid and Barbara Baxter.” (Letter dated December, 1983) Apparently Fannie Carroll was one of the 17 workers aboard the ship; however she went on to New Zealand. She said at Santee, California Convention in 1964:
“…when I left for New Zealand in 1905…we crossed to England in four and a half hours (from Ireland). Then I met the other workers who were going with me. We arrived in London the next morning and got on the ship, and we sailed that afternoon. When I saw that big old gangplank being taken down something happened. I had kept up while I was in my home for the sake of my mother and sisters, but when the gangplank came down I went around the other side of the ship to be by myself. There were eight workers going to South Africa at this time. One of the older ones, Mary Moody, came around to comfort me. I wanted to be alone, but I appreciated her kindness to me. It was three weeks journey from London to Cape Town, and eight workers got off there.”
Wilson Reid, the man whose tombstone reads “A Pioneer of God,” was born in 1881, and grew up at Carnteel, County Tyrone, Ireland. He and
his sister Bella professed in 1903 in a mission of Adam Hutchison. The 1905
Workers List shows Wilson entering work in 1904, and his sister, Bella in 1905. Wilson preached for a couple years in England, and then toward “the end
of 1905, a number of workers set sail from these shores for South Africa, Australia
and New Zealand. Wilson was among the group of 4 brothers and 4 sisters
who were to work in South Africa.” [Source:
Wilson Reid - A few biographical notes]
Wilson Reid landed at Cape Town in 1905, with very little luggage, to
bring the worker's message to the people of South Africa, consisting mainly
of whites, coloreds, blacks and Indians. Apparently, he slept out
in the fields (like Jesus“with no place to lay his head”), the
climate being favorable in the summer. His companion soon moved on and
left Wilson by himself. Wilson stood on the street corners during
the day, singing hymns and preaching to those passing by in “open-air"
meetings. It is a common practice, even today, for preachers of many
denominations to go to the market places and preach.
Mr. Muller,* a white man of Dutch descent from Ireland, was on his way home from work, when he stopped to listen to a man preaching on the street corner. He went home and told his wife about the preacher he had listened to. His wife asked him where the man was staying, and he said, "I believe he just sleeps in the fields." One account stated that Mrs. Muller, a very kind lady, told her husband to bring the man to their home; another said, “Next day, Wilson was visiting and the last house he came to was the Mullers’. Mr. Muller recognized him and invited him in.” [Source: Wilson Reid - A few biographical notes) Within three weeks, Mrs. Muller professed, and became the very FIRST person to profess on the Continent of Africa and her husband did so a little while later. A meeting was set up in their home.
In 1906, four more brother and four more sister workers arrived in South Africa:
In 1906, Hugh McKay, Jim Dunlop, Jack Godding, Fred Alder, Jean Allen, Nellie Taylor, Cissie Maughan and Edith Easy came. (Eldon Tenniswood's Letter, December, 1983). Fred Alder joined Wilson Reid and the pair moved up to Kimberley to the area of the diamond fields. One of the first to become interested was George Absalom, who eventually became one of the first South Africans to go into the work. Wilson was one of the first workers to go to Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe). In 1931, he and Paul Scholtz visited Tanganyika (present-day Tanzania) and Kenya, and opened the way for the work to start in these countries. Then he went to Egypt, where he began to study French. Fred Quick came to Egypt and started the work among the Greeks there. Wilson moved on to Lebanon. In 1946, Wilson was the first elder worker to visit West Africa, where the Work had begun in 1931 in Sierra Leone. From that time Wilson took a special interest in West Africa, and solicited other workers to come there. The work was extended to the Gold Coast (now Ghana) in 1953; East Nigeria in 1954 and later to British Cameroons (now parts of Cameroon and Nigeria) in 1958, where Wilson was one of the first to make a start. In the early 1950s Wilson also visited The Gambia, but the way did not open there. Wilson was the first worker to go to Ethiopia. [Source: Wilson Reid - A few biographical notes]
When the workers arrived in South Africa in 1905, a great deal of racial prejudice and discrimination existed there. The people were classified according to race: White, Black, Colored ("mixed blood"), Indians, etc. After a few meetings in the Mullers’ home, Wilson Reid, seeking to be more accommodating to outsiders who might happen to be racially prejudiced, suggested that Mrs. Muller not attend the gospel meetings. You see, Mrs. Muller was a colored lady (mixed race), and she was in a mixed marriage, being married to a white man. Wilson Reid thought that if Mrs. Muller wasn’t present, perhaps more whites would attend gospel meetings and could have the opportunity to hear the gospel. He believed that after the whites received the gospel, they would have a better understanding, and would accept Mrs. Muller. This, however, never happened.
Mr. and Mrs. Muller had one daughter, named Nunnie, who had inherited the features and complexion of her white Dutch father. Having a colored mother, she was not accepted by the whites, and neither was she accepted totally by the coloreds. There was no professing man for her to marry, so she remained single until she was 55 yrs old. After he spent many years in the work in West Africa, Vernard Karstadt left the work in the 1950-60s and married Nunnie Muller. She passed away in 1995 at the age of 93. Their niece, Sheila Martin, wrote:
“My Uncle laboured with Wilson in West Africa, and found him to be a very kind man. However, he had suffered awful abuse in the work from some of the other white workers. Uncle Vernard told us that the coloured and black friends and workers had to address the white workers by the title "Baas,” plus their name. In Afrikaans, a Dutch dialect, “Baas” means “Lord” or “Boss” in English. However, the white workers didn’t want the blacks to address Uncle Vernard by that title, although in appearance he was as white as they were, but was classed as coloured on his identity pass. My uncle excused this practice with the reasoning that “we have to suffer for Jesus’ sake. As children, we gathered in Mrs. Muller's home for meetings. ” (Memories of Sheila Martin)Fred Alder was the worker responsible for putting down the hard-fast rules for apartheid in “the truth” in South Africa. The workers enforced segregation in the meetings, though it wasn’t the law to do so in churches or worship services. As the meetings grew in number, so did racism, even though South Africa at that time was free for all:
“In South Africa, from the very start, the workers practiced racial segregation in their meetings--when the concept was still foreign to South African people, and long before segregation became national law in 1948. That’s all I ever knew growing up in South Africa. They would later lie to the people, saying that it was a law to sit separately or mix during worship. In fact, “the truth” was the ONLY church to practice racism, and that supported the segregation among so-called Christians, other than the State church, the Dutch Reformed (who could hardly be called racist, because only the Dutch attended, and the English would not be comfortable in that language anyway; and they later denounced their policy on racism, saying that they had sinned.)"
“The white friends would see the coloured friends on the streets and look the other way. Conventions were segregated, and in my parents’ time, the coloured workers had to stand and speak from the back of the convention hall; only whites were allowed to use the platform. This practice continued until the early 1980s. At that time, the coloured workers were allowed to speak from the platform, but not sit on it or lead a meeting. Conventions had two doors of entry; one for Whites, and the other for the Darkies. The races were separated by the middle aisle; the workers were also divided by races. Incidentally, they serve communion in the conventions there. Perhaps 15 cups and 15 plates of bread. In the middle aisle, the workers ran frantically up and down the aisles making sure the emblems did not pass over the segregated lines.”
“One rich farmer and his wife, had a Sunday morning meeting in their home. One of their hired men, a black man showed an interest in the 2x2s. He ended up professing, but this posed a problem, so they solved it by having the black man sit in the kitchen and give his testimony from there, while the meeting took place in the living room.”
“Before the country gained their independence from Britain, people were free to mix. Please understand that although South Africa under the previous government,(before apartheid) did enforce racial segregation, it did not affect worship or religious gatherings. Congregations could mix freely in all religions or churches. This was because during the worst time of racial oppression in South Africa, the government could not get the churches to comply with their laws of racial segregation. And the church leaders rose up in opposition to the point ministers were prepared to be imprisoned or deported rather than go against their religious views.How did the blacks and coloreds feel about segregation practices in fellowship meetings and conventions? How did they justify these practices with the scripture: “For there is no respect of persons with God?” (Romans 2:11)“In the city of Cape Town, the workers didn't even bother to work among the black (native) townships. All other churches went among them, but not the workers or friends.” (Memories of Sheila Martin)
“The problem was that the previous generation, our parents, were so conditioned into believing that this was part of our suffering for Christ, that they encouraged us to look past all this, and that someday the Lord would correct this problem as we all stood before the great white throne. When we asked why this problem did not exist in other mainstream churches, we were told that the devil already had those people, and therefore he didn’t bother them as much.“Our parents said we had to put up with it because the way was perfect, but the people went wrong. Jesus would one day make things right. And so we professed, and endured it, because we did want to serve the Lord and be with Him one day. My parents were not happy in this way either, but then, it was the "Truth." They have passed on into eternity, believing that it was a white man's religion. They all complained, but who would stand up against the "anointed preacher" of God? Who would go out on a limb, to proclaim Jesus and His teaching? After all, wasn’t the worker's authority greater than the word of God? For those who did complain, their meetings were removed, many were put out of the meetings.
“We were even told from the platform at convention, that coloured people should be thankful that the white workers made the sacrifice to save their souls, or else they would have missed salvation. The phrase often used was ‘Know your place, and keep it.’ Our head worker here told someone that Jesus was a white man, and therefore the authority should go to the white man. The abuse was terrible, but who is to blame? We allowed it to happen to us--FOR JESUS’ SAKE. Education is still the tool, and once you give a man that, you can no longer control him.An appeal was made to Andrew Abernathy, (now deceased), an Overseer in the Eastern USA. He replied in a letter basically with the instructions: "You knuckle down to the white workers. Did you bring us the gospel or did we bring it to you?” [NOTE: If anyone can furnish a copy of his letter, we will reprint it here]“We lived in Cape Town, near to the harbour. Those years the visiting workers came over by boat mainly. Our home was often used to entertain visiting workers, because we were the only home near the docks, and because Uncle Vernard was in the work. We had a large home, and sometimes the workers would arrange to have a dinner at our place. The sister workers prepared the meals, but none of our family was allowed to eat or sit at the table with them. They took over the home and we waited in the kitchen till all was over. Workers often stayed six months at a time with us. We gave them the best room in the house. They cooked their own meals in this huge room. My folks were poor, and often I drooled over the smells that came from that room. Every day friends would drop in, one with fresh chops, and steak. Another with fresh vegetables and fruit. Meanwhile, we sat down to a meal where meat could be hidden under four peas. We were suffering for Jesus' sake, but my stomach didn’t like it!” (Memories of Sheila Martin)
In 1948, when South Africa became independent, the laws of the country were changed and racial segregation began to be strictly enforced. Segregation was nothing new, but it was given a new term “Apartheid.” (Pronounced “a-par-tite” or “a-par-tate”) Webster’s definition for “apartheid: racial segregation; specifically, a policy of segregation and political and economic discrimination against non-European groups in the Republic of South Africa.”
From 1948 to 1983, a regime of harsh repression was implemented for non-white people in South Africa which began to reach into every aspect of their lives. Everything was segregated: schools, transportation, hospitals, recreation, entertainment, etc. Apartheid was enforced in all public places. Notices reading “Europeans and Non-Europeans” (later changed to Whites and Non-Whites) were placed at entrances to post offices, railway stations, airports, and other public buildings. It governed where one could live, what work one could do, etc. There were separate movie houses, theaters and restaurants for the various race groups. The government believed the establishment of independent homelands for the various racial groups in South Africa was the ultimate solution to the country’s problems. Whites were to live in white areas, blacks in black areas, coloreds in colored areas, Indians in Indian areas. Not surprisingly, the whites received far more land than all the other groups put together, though they only totaled 13% of the population.
Every South African citizen had to carry an identification card (or pass) in which the race of the holder was clearly stated. In some cases members of the same family were classified in different racial groups. Before the country gained its independence from Britain, the various races were free to mix and marry at will; now during apartheid, sexual contact and marriages across the color line became illegal, and a criminal offense. After the Suppression of Communism Act was passed in 1950, hundreds of South Africans of all races and persuasions suspected of “furthering the aims of Communism” were banned for periods of 5-10-15 years. This means they were banned from public life, restricted to certain areas, prevented from entering any educational institution, from preparing any material for publication and from attending any social gatherings, and from being quoted in the media or at public gatherings. Many publications and books were banned and destroyed. Eligible voters were white with only a few colored and black. Black Universities were built and blacks were banned from attending so-called “white universities." The field of sports suffered; only whites were allowed on sports teams.
Prior to 1948, congregations in most churches were unilingual and uniracial. The Dutch Reformed Churches were constitutionally structured into separate white and black bodies. After 1948, the religious isolation of the races from each other became a matter of public policy, though it should be noted that the first unsuccessful attempt to bring this about had occurred under Hertzog in 1937; and the second was in 1957 when renewed public outcries again prevented the Government from enforcing the religious separation now enacted by law. Affirmations of dissent from the racial policies of the Government were regularly made by church bodies. One such was the declaration by the Anglican bishops in 1957 in reaction to the “church clause” that if the churches were segregated by law, they would be bound in conscience to disobey the law (Alan Paton).
Under Prime Minister Verwoerd’s rule, white society became increasingly insular and inbred, kept in isolation from the views and lifestyles of the modern world, as well as from the majority of the population. However, even the whites had problems getting along with each other. The Dutch-speaking majority never got along well with the 40% English-speaking, who tended to be better off financially and educationally. It was a society which expected conformity and which regarded dissent, however trivial, as a form of treachery. As historian Alan Paton said, “South Africa is not a Nazi country, but it is not a bad imitation of one.”
In 1957, “the Native Laws Amendment Bill contained a clause to empower the Government to prohibit the holding of classes, entertainments and even church services if they were attended by Africans in white Group Areas. The public protest was sharp—a good deal sharper than had been the case in 1937 when the Hertzog Government had introduced a not dissimilar proposal…It was argued that the Bill violated the Reformed principle of the sovereignty of the Church within its own sphere, while the Anglican Episcopal synod informed the Prime Minister that its members would not be able to advise their clergy to obey a law which excluded people from a church on racial grounds. The terms of the Bill were modified…” (South Africa - A Modern History by T.R.H. Davenport, University of Toronto Press, 1991, ISBN 0-8020-6880-4)
Several black South African theologians and clergymen have come to international prominence for defying the apartheid creed. They include Archbishop Desmond Tutu of the Anglican Church, and Professor Albert Geyser who held the chair of New Testament Theology at Pretoria. Another prominent rebel was Beyers Naude, son of a legendary Boer War chaplain and a distinguished minister in the Transvaal Synod of the Gereformeerde Kerk (Dutch Reformed Church) and a member of the Broederbond.
The Truth Comes Out
In the mid 1960s, there was an uprising of the 2x2 colored elders who got together and protested segregation in meetings. One of the elders personally checked with government officials regarding churches being subject to segregation in worship services and received an official document stating the government did not interfere with religious gatherings:
“He was assured that this was not the law, and he also received a written document stating the law in effect at that time. However, none of the white workers would read it when he showed them! Then, in the mid 1960s, some alarming events began to take place in the meetings. The coloured (mixed race) Elders revolted against the white workers for the racial barriers that were being enforced, and their abuse and misuse of authority. Meetings were removed from some homes, and some were excommunicated. It was utter chaos.
“After receiving orders from the workers to do so, some elders threw people out of their Sunday morning meetings. One young mother was put out in this manner, and left with her small children, who were afraid and crying and didn’t know what was happening. Her husband wouldn’t take 'no' for an answer, and he and his wife and their seven little children kept coming back to the meetings. They insisted that it was God’s meeting, and would sit outside the meeting on the porch so that those passing by could see that they were outcasts. Then, as all the people came out, they would greet them. They were eventually reinstated, probably to keep them from stirring up any more trouble!
“I professed at 15, and when I gave my testimony, people used to close their Bibles because I was born of the wrong spirit, they said. My father was involved in the revolt, and one of the workers approached me at the death of my father and told me that if my dad had still been involved in the revolt to the end of his life, he could not bury him." (Memories of Sheila Martin)Eddie Barrendilla, a colored worker, who vocally opposed segregation was soon shipped off to the United States to preach. And because he found the situation there no better, Eddie formed a black convention at Scrabble, Virginia, “so the blacks would not have to suffer abuse from the whites.” It was owned by the Clarks (white) and was later bought by the Gillises (a white couple). In recent years, the name of the convention has been called “Boston.” It is near Roanoke, VA. It has been reported, but the author has not confirmed it, that whites attend the Boston convention, but that attendance at the other two Virginia conventions is "lilly-white."
“Every time Eddie came back to South Africa for a visit, an uproar occurred. The white workers dreaded Eddie’s outspokenness when Eddie returned on his 5-year visits from America. On one of his visits, he attended the convention and stood at the back of the convention to preach, telling the people that it was there that he and other black workers had to preach from when he first went into the work in South Africa. They often tried to pacify him, through his sister, Gertie Barendilla, who was also in the work. Eddie was very young when he went into the work, maybe even 18. His sister was 17.
“Every year, a well known elder protested the segregation of the different races in the meetings. He refused to sit down during open meetings and had a lengthy scripture as to why God wants His people to be ONE. He never got angry-- just smiled and made his little speech." (Memories of Sheila Martin)Imagine the reaction of the black and colored friends and workers when they discovered the white workers had lied to them!! When they realized that the 2x2 group practiced segregation because that was the way the workers wanted it—and not because they had to by law!!
“From the very start of the meetings in South Africa, even before segregation came in, the workers practiced racial segregation in their meetings--when the concept was still foreign to South African people. That’s all I ever knew growing up in South Africa. They would later lie to the people, saying that it was a law to sit separately or mix during worship.Fred Alder (now deceased) was an Englishman, who succeeded Wilson Reid, as the Headworker in South Africa for many years. Wilson died at 87 years of age and was buried in South Africa.“They not only told lies, they sang them too...To add to our misery, we would all participate in that beautiful hymn at conventions. Hymn 335". (Memories of Sheila Martin)
"In Christ, there is no East or West, In Him, no South or North.
‘Tis ONE the Shepherd's sacred flock, Though scattered o’er the earth.
...
"As brothers, sisters of one faith, Whatever their tongue or race,
United stand, from bondage free, True monuments of grace.”
“Now, when the coloured elders got together to discuss the problems with the workers about the separation enforced at conventions, their argument was that when people from other churches came, this would be a hindrance for them, and they would not be able to see past this, that this way was 'the truth.' Fred Alder's reply was, 'If people are not prepared to come into the fold on these conditions (segregation), they can stay outside and perish.'When a worker was asked if anyone outside the 2x2s had a chance to be saved, he answered that it was extremely unlikely, but it was just possible that one or two in the African outback might be saved if there was never any possibility of the workers going there.“The meetings had enforced segregation into their worship services all along, way before it became the law of the country. They have now been forced through political pressure to sit mixed in the conventions, but the social or fellowship side of it still keeps to the old way of separation.” (Memories of Sheila Martin)
In 1961, Prime Minister Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd withdrew South Africa from the British Commonwealth. He was considered to be the supreme architect of apartheid. His philosophy was one of “divide and rule.” He was assassinated on September 6, 1966, as he was about to deliver a speech to Parliament by a messenger named Demetrio Tsafendas, who stabbed him several times with a knife. AND…
DEMETRIUS/DEMETRIO TSAFENDAS
As told by Sheila Martin: In the mid 1960s, “the truth” was in utter chaos in South Africa. The coloured elders were revolting against the white workers for the racial barriers that were being enforced; and meetings were removed from some homes, and some were excommunicated. Confusion reigned. It was in this atmosphere that Demetrius Tsafendas appeared on the scene.
A vagrant named Demetrius Tsafendas arrived in South Africa and was looking for a wife. One of the friends had given him the name and address of Helen Daniels, the unmarried sister of my sister’s husband. He landed at her door, and as he claimed to be professing, he was taken into her Mother’s home. My sister was living in the other half of the same house. They all shared a house that was divided into two dwellings. After my father died, I boarded with my sister, and all this took place at this time. I was working at a store. South Africa was a police state where you never said a word to anyone about how you thought or felt about the government of the country, or you might wind up in prison or lose your life.
Our first impression of Demetrius was that he was a mysterious character. He read his Bible constantly, but was never really in tune with the 2x2 doctrine. He once prayed the Lord's prayer in convention! He tried to hose down some of the chickens on a hot day, stating that they were too hot. He simply HAD to have the daily newspaper, and read it from cover to cover. He would say that the government was doing far too much for the black race, and not providing enough for the poor whites. He claimed to have had a tape worm that would come up into his throat and torment him, which I think was probably a demon.
Demetrius had a kind face and was a quiet, gentle man, and I did not find him threatening in any way. He was also a very restless man. I think he was a lost individual, who drifted through life, taking chances to survive. He once told me that his Greek father had him by a half-Greek, half-coloured lady. They were not in a marriage relationship. [I later found out that he was actually born in Lourenco Marques, now called Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, on January 14, 1918, the illegitimate son of a white Greek man, Michaelatos Tsafandakis, from Crete and a “half-caste” African domestic worker named Amelia William of Mozambique.] Some time later, his father married a pure Greek woman who did not want Demetrius. His father gave him a large sum of money and basically told him to get lost. He was only eight years old at the time. He decided to travel the world, and became a stowaway to many countries, hiding on trains, boats etc. Since children easily master accents and languages, it’s not hard to see how he could pick up many foreign languages.
He would tell us of the many places he had visited in his life, and he spoke eight languages fluently. I worked late many nights, and when I got off work, it would be too late to go to the Wednesday night meeting. I would come home and find Demetrius reading the newspaper, and I would question him on his world knowledge and travel. Having never been abroad myself, I found his stories fascinating. Many evenings I would visit with this man who spoke of his arrival in Greece in 1947, his conversion there and his baptism by John Micheleto.
After some time, and having shown no interest in the lady, he moved to the city of Cape Town, where I lived. He told us that he had a job as a messenger at the House of Parliament. This was a surprise, because foreigners were never employed there. Actually, he shouldn’t have been allowed into South Africa due to his race and alleged “communistic” leaning. He was on the government “stop list” prohibiting entry. The last time I saw Demetrius, I was waiting for a bus to go to meeting. He acted strange, saying he would join me, and then walking away; doing this a few times, very nervously.
On September 6, 1966, the Prime Minister of South Africa, Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd, a ruthless, heartless man some believed to be both evil and insane, planned to pass another very cruel law against the already suffering blacks. As he stepped forward to read his speech regarding the cruel new law, Demetrius Tsafendas met him and fatally stabbed him four times in the heart. The speech and documents were covered with Verwoerd’s blood.
Demetrius Tsafendas was 48 years old at the time, and had been working less than a month as messenger in the Parliament. The murder appeared well planned. The story was published in the "Argus" and "The Cape Times," our daily newspapers. The Star Newspaper of Johannesburg 9/6/66 said Tsafendas was reported to be unable to “give a single coherent reason for committing the murder.” It was also published in Time and Newsweek Magazines.*** Demetrius claimed the reason he did it was because a tapeworm possessed him. The fact that the 2x2 group has no name, and no headquarters and meetings were held in homes, raised suspicion, as it resembled an underground business to the authorities. I think Tsafendas used the 2x2 route because it offered the secrecy he so badly needed to carry out his commission.
Some workers and friends who had been in contact with Demetrius were called as witnesses for his trial, including my sister and brother-in-law, Merle and Peter Daniels, who currently reside in Ontario, Canada; Jimmy Johnson, the (now deceased) head worker of South Africa at the time; and also Mr. & Mrs. Pat O’Ryan**, now living in the Lansdowne, Cape Province, South Africa. The trial lasted only one day. Even after the murder, I could not feel afraid of Demi.
The friends and workers were optimistic that the workers would have the opportunity to tell their story of going out to preach like the early disciples. We were excited over this wonderful opportunity to spread the gospel, to tell about this marvelous truth that they preached, while the whole world watched on television! However, to our shock and surprise, the head worker, Jimmy Johnson, proceeded to tell how the group practiced segregation, and how he had been concerned as to which meeting this man should attend, not knowing for certain Demetrius full origin. Can you imagine the reaction of my work associates the next day?? None of their churches practiced racism! A sign outside the Catholic church read, “All Races Welcome.”
Demetrius was ruled insane and detained at Pretoria Central Prison. The December 31, 1996 Electronic Mail & Guardian ran an article titled: “Where are they now?” In this article, reporters take a look at some of the people who were in the news in the past, whose fame has faded. Regarding Tsafendas, it said:
“The man who assassinated apartheid architect Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd, Dimitrio Tsafendas (79), is at Sterkfontein Mental Hospital near Krugersdorp, to which he was released after decades in Pretoria Central Prison. His doctor says he is ‘quite frail’ and suffers from ‘cardiac complaints.’ His mental state ‘has not changed. It is the same as it has always been.’”
I heard that there was a book written about Demetrius concerning the assassination; and apparently his name is on the cover, or in the title, but I have not seen it or been able to get any information about it. An article in an Africaan publication, Beeld, contains a reference to a book written in 1967 about Verwoerd & Tsafendas. The title isn't given but the author is J.J.J. Scholtz. Possibly this is the book. One news account said:
"Demetrius Tsafendas came to England in 1959 and was offered a job by a British man who owned the Rothmans cigarette factory. In 1960 he mentioned the fact that he wished he had the opportunity to kill S.A. Prime minister. The owner, Anton Rupert, picked up on this, and this is how it got the ball rolling. The murder plot members met at a meeting in Birmingham in March, 1963. There they decided on the assassin’s assignment. He was paid 5000 Rand. He would remain in England, until ‘Time Magazine American,’ would print a picture on its front page of Dr. Verwoerd in the form of a lamb dripping with blood, and that would indicate the time had come to start proceedings.”
The man who irrevocably changed the course of South Africa's history, Tsafendas, died on Thursday, October 7, 1999. He was suffering from pneumonia, a condition aggravated by chronic heart disease at 81 years of age.
Reportedly, the plaque on his grave reads:Los Angeles Times, 1999 - Obituaries October 8, 1999 - Dimitri Tsafensas; S. African Assassin
http://articles.latimes.com/1999/oct/08/news/mn-20049/2
By Sheila (De Jager) Martin
Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada
NOTE: Sheila and her husband, Bert Martin, were both from Cape Town, and lived in Ontario, Canada at the time Sheila wrote this. Bert came to Canada in 1965, and Sheila came in 1971. He sent for her from South Africa and they were married in Canada. Sheila professed at the age of 15 through Eddie Barrendilla, while he was back in South Africa on a visit. Her husband professed at the age of 12. Sheila is colored, coming from a background of grandparents who were East Indian, Dutch, German and South African colored.
“In 1963, while teaching in SA, three government police
interviewed two lady teachers and tried to force them to write affidavits
stating that I, plus three other teachers, were propagating communism.
Although these women were threatened with imprisonment if they refused
to support these accusations against us, they could not be coerced.
I do not have any idea why the police were after me. At this time
I saw my uncle and some close friends imprisoned for no reason. I
realised I could soon face a life behind bars so I applied to Canada for
refugee status and arrived in Toronto in 1971.”
Sheila told the author: “Yes, you may use my name; the only one
I fear or respect now as my Greatest Authority, is my Lord, Jesus Christ.
It was drummed into us as children that we were suffering FOR JESUS’ SAKE,
and some bright day Jesus would come and make it right. Four years ago,
I learned that Jesus came to make it right two thousand years ago. He died
that I would be free. He came to remove the wicked bondage that Satan had
kept us in for so long. You know what I did? I had no time to gather anything
there, I took myself and ran through those prison gates, celebrating with
praises and thanksgiving, for the greatest moment of my life. Jesus reminds
me everyday, that I am important to Him. I am wonderfully and fearfully
made. I am unique. There isn’t another like me. Thank you Lord!”
NOTE: Before Sheila’s Aunt Nunnie died, she told the whole
story of how the workers brought the gospel to South Africa, and the workers
circulated a document of the story. IF anyone has this document,
the author would be very interested in receiving a copy.
Sheila Martin passed away in May, 2005 of cancer..
NOTE: FINALLY, in 1991, the basic apartheid laws were repealed. Many political prisoners were freed, the bans were lifted, and those in exile were allowed to come home.
Information may be verified in:
Cape Town Newspapers:
Argus, Cape Town
The Cape Times, Cape Town
The Star, Johannesburg 9/6/66
Periodicals:
9/16/66 Time Magazine, Pages 38-40
9/19/66 Newsweek Magazine, Pages 40-44
10/28/66 Time Magazine, Page 41
10/31/66 Newsweek Magazine, Pages 56, 58
Granta Magazine's "Assassins" issue
Books:
Verwood is Dead by Jan Botha, Books of Africa, Cape Town, 1967.
A Mouthful of Glass by Henk Van Woerden (translated by Dan Jacobson)
awarded the 2001 Sunday Times Alan Paton Prize for Non-Fiction.
Documentary: A Question of Madness by Liza Key
Play:
One-man play titled: "Tsafendas" produced as recently
as 12/2001 in South Africa.
Historical Sources:
Title: South Africa – A Modern History (4th Ed)
Bby T. R. H. Davenport
University of Toronto Press (Toronto & Buffalo) 1991
ISBN 0-8020-5940-6
Title: In the Name of Apartheid
Bby Martin Meredith
Harper & Row
Pub, NY, 1988
ISBN 0-06-435659-0
Title: Wolves, Jackals, and Foxes: The Assassins Who Changed History
Author: Kris Hollington
Publisher: Macmillan (New York), 2008
ISBN: 978-0-3123-7899-8
Pp. 115-120
Refers to 2x2's as: "Followers of Christ"
View it online at: http://books.google.com/books?id=UJxc3_c3EzgC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s#v=onepage&q=&f=false
**Title: The Assassin: a story of race and rage in the land of apartheid
By Henk van Woerden (Dan Jacobson, translator)
Publisher: Macmillan, 2002
ISBN: 978-0-3124-2084-0
Read portions online at:
http://books.google.com/books?id=hfPlNmouBWAC&pg=PA162&lpg=PA162&dq=%22Sterkfontein+hospital%22+tsafendas&source=bl&ots=K_kIVf8ld6&sig=dLDdGbOJImyk4P3GkDPI7jrmAoE&hl=en&ei=sGF8SoKYApTiswPX5bDvCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2#v=onepage&q=%22Sterkfontein%20hospital%22%20tsafendas&f=false
**Book mentions Patrick and Louise O'Ryan as a couple who attended the funeral, and with whom Tsafendas had stayed prior to the assassination. These were some of the Friends.
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