South Africa
1st Anniversary - Death of Dr. Verwoerd
1967 Silver 1 Rand 32mm (15.01 grams) 0.800 Silver (0.3833 oz. ASW)
Reference: KM# 72.1
SOUTH AFRICA 1967, Bust of Dr. Verwoerd right.
SOLI DEO GLORIA 1 RAND, Springbok prancing right.

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Hendrik  Frensch Verwoerd (8 September 1901 – 6 September 1966), also  known as Dr.H.F Verwoerd, was a South African  Psychology   and Philosophy   scholar, Afrikaans   newspaper editor-in-chief   and Prime Minister of  South Africa . He is regarded as the mastermind behind socially  engineering and implementing the racist policies of apartheid ,  the system of legal racial classification and forced racial segregation   that existed in South Africa from 1948 to 1994. Apartheid was rigidly enforced  by means of oppressive laws as well as aggressive security services such as  security police and army. Verwoerd was a right wing authoritarian   leader and Afrikaner nationalist .  He was a strong advocate of the Afrikaner volk ,  language, culture and Christian religion. He held that white control over South  Africa could only continue if the races lived apart. He survived an  assassination attempt in 1960, but was eventually assassinated in 1966.

Prior to entering politics, Verwoerd was regarded as a brilliant Social Science   professor at Stellenbosch  University . He completed his undergraduate studies with  distinctions majoring in Sociology , Psychology   and Philosophy .  Verwoerd, continued his studies completing his Masters (cum laude) and Doctorate  in Social Psychology   and Philosophy .  As a result of his academic performance Verwoerd received a post-doctoral  scholarship from the University of Oxford ,  but turned it down and continued his research in the fields of Sociology   and Philosophy   at various German universities. Upon his return to South Africa, he was  appointed professor of Applied Psychology at Stellenbosch  University at the age of 26. He was then later appointed as  head of the Sociology   department in 1933.

Verwoerd was Prime Minister during the establishment of the Republic of South  Africa in 1961, thereby fulfilling the Afrikaner   dream of an independent republic for South Africans. During his tenure as Prime  Minister, anti-apartheid movements such as the African National  Congress (ANC) and the Pan Africanist  Congress (PAC) were banned, and the Rivonia Trial ,  which prosecuted ANC leaders, was held.

Many major roads, places and facilities in cities and towns of South Africa  were named after Verwoerd; in post-apartheid South Africa, most of these  references to the creator of apartheid   have been renamed. Famous examples include H. F. Verwoerd Airport   in Port Elizabeth ,  renamed Port Elizabeth Airport, the Verwoerd Dam   in the Free State ,  now the Gariep Dam, H. F. Verwoerd  Academic Hospital in Pretoria ,  now Steve Biko Hospital, and the town of Verwoerdburg

South  Africaaaa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is the  southernmost sovereign state   in Africa etres of coastline of Southern South Atlantic   and Indian Oceans ,  on the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia , Botswana   and Zimbabwe ,  and on the east and northeast by Mozambique   and Swaziland ,  and surrounding the kingdom of Lesotho .  South Africa is the 25th-largest country   in the world by land area, and with close to 53 million people ,  is the world's 24th-most populous  nation . It is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World   or the Eastern Hemisphere .  It is the only country that borders both the Atlantic Ocean   and the Indian Ocean .

South Africa is a multiethnic society   encompassing a wide variety of cultures, languages, and religions. Its  pluralistic makeup is reflected in the constitution 's  recognition of 11 official languages, which is among the highest number of any  country in the world. Two of these languages are of European origin: Afrikaans   developed from Dutch   and serves as the first language of most white   and coloured   South Africans; English   reflects the legacy of British colonialism, and is commonly used in public and  commercial life, though it is fourth-ranked as a spoken first language.

The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup d'état ,  and regular elections   have been held for almost a century. However, the vast majority of black South  Africans were not enfranchised   until 1994. During the 20th century, the black majority sought to recover its  rights from the dominant white minority, with this struggle playing a large role  in the country's recent history and politics. The National Party   imposed apartheid   in 1948, institutionalizing previous racial segregation. After a long and  sometimes violent struggle by the African National  Congress and other anti-apartheid activists both inside and  outside the country, discriminatory laws began to be repealed or abolished from  1990 onwards.

About 80 percent of South Africans are of Sub-Saharan African   ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different Bantu languages ,  nine of which have official status. The remaining population consists of Africa 's  largest communities of European   (white), Asian   (Indian),  and multiracial   (coloured)  ancestry. Since 1994, all ethnic and linguistic groups have had political  representation in the country's democracy ,  which comprises a parliamentary republic   and nine provinces .  South Africa is often referred to as the "Rainbow  Nation" to describe the country's newly developing  multicultural diversity in the wake of segregationist apartheid   ideology.

Until late 2015, the World Bank   classified South Africa as an upper-middle-income economy. South Africa today is  a developed country and a newly industrialized  country . Its economy is the second-largest in Africa, and the  34th-largest in the world. In terms of purchasing power  parity , South Africa has the seventh-highest per  capita income in Africa. However, poverty and inequality  remain widespread, with about a quarter of the population unemployed and living  on less than US$1.25 a day. Nevertheless, South Africa has been identified as a middle power   in international affairs, and maintains significant regional influence.