• • • Fred Bernard was born in Plettenberg Bay. After completion of his schooling, he resolved to train as a teacher. Re- servations had been made and his ticket booked, when circumstances brought about ac hange of pian. He moved to Pretoria, where he was ap- pointed to a post in the Department of Bantu Affairs, Here he was employed until his promotion to the post of pri- vate secretary to the late Or. H. F. Verwoerd. at that time Minister of Bantu Affairs, in 1952. In this post ha rendered thirteen years of uninterrupt- ed service, simultaneously acting as Secretary of the Commission of Bantu Affairs. He experienced the momentous events of one of the most dramatic periods in South African history — the years 1958 to 1981 — from the focal point: the death of Strijdom; the elec- tion of Dr. H. F. Verwoard as Prime Minister; Sharpville; the first attempt on Or. Verwosrd's life; the establish- ment of a Republic; the significant British Commonwealth Conference of 1981, where Dr. Verwoerd decided that the future of South Africa should be directed along the lines of Indepen- dence. Of all this. In which Fred Bar- nard took an active part, this book ls a recount. Mr. Bernard is married and has three children. He lives In Pretoria and holds a post with the Department of Plan- ning. Dust )acket: Oswald Gerber l3 YEAiRS WITH DR. H. F. VERWOERD First Published in August 1967 Original title in Afrikaans: 13 JAAR IN.DIE SKADU VAN DR, H. F. VERWOERD Translated by: dr. P. de Munnik (Cj 1967 Fred Sarnard Printed in South Africa by Voortrekkerpers, Ltd., 102 Jorissen Street, Johannesburg 13 YEARS WITH DR. H. F. VER%'OERD FRED BARNARD l967 VOORTRKKKERPERS JOHANNESIURG FOIKWORD For thirteen short but precious years the author served as private secretary to the late Dr. Hendrik F. Verwoerd. For Fred Barnard it was no ordinary job to a new Minister, a passing phase in the career of a personable and intelligent young civil servant. For him his association with Dr. Verwoerd became one of complete, selfless devotion and dedication, by which he shared, over thirteen priceless years in the life of the South African nation, every moment and mood of the man who went from a highly controversial editorial chair to ministerial office, shaped and implemented South Africa's fundamental policies, and rose to become Prime Minister whose term of office proved to be one of the most richly productive in the destiny of South Africa. Fred Barnard lived with Dr. Verwoerd through the years of toil and tension to the triumph of the latter part of his life when Dr. Verwoerd straddled the South African and world scene as one of the greatest statesmen of our time. This is no biography of Dr. Verwoerd. A proper evaluation of his life, his work, his ideals, remains to be written — as many no doubt will be in the years to come — but as his intimately personal story of his thirteen years with this illus- trious South African, Fred Barnard's memoirs will remain irreplacable in the hterature of the Verwoerd era. — A. M. van Schoor. AUTHOR'S PREFACE Following the publication of my personal recoHections of those thirteen ye~ during which I served Dr. Hendrik F. Verwoerd as privates ecretary, I have received numerous requests from many quarters to have these meinoirs published in English as weH. I consider it a great privilege to be able to comply with these requests. Originally, when first approached to record these memoirs in Afrikaans, I was reluctant to do so, feeling that the time was not yet ripe to record conteinporary history, and that in the very nature of the circumstances it was impossible, at this early stage and with the events still so recent, to do justice to a figure of the stature of a Dr. Verwoerd. However, the very favourable reception accorded to the Afrikaans issue has come as a pleasant surprise to me and has taught me once more that private secretaries are liable to be fallible in their judgment! The fact that this modest contribution has been published at aH, is mainly due to the persuasive powers of my good friends. I need hardly say that it would have been an impossible task for me to compress aH my memories, extending over a period of thirteen years, of so dynamic and dominant a figure as Dr. Verwoerd, who led so fuH a life and whose work was so monumental, into one sliin volume. I have therefore not even attempted to do so. This is a task which I mill leave to future historians, in the hope that they wiH be more competent to perform it than I. In the circumstances, I have merely tried to introduce my readers to Verwoerd, the man — the Verwoerd I knew — and to pause for a brief moment at only a few of the many mile- stones which he planted so solidly along the long, straight trail blazed by him.