Verwoerd’s grandson takes on new parliamentary role as FF Plus alters leadership structure

Wynand Boshoff, grandson of ‘apartheid architect’ Hendrik Verwoerd, will report to a new parliamentary leader as the Freedom Front (FF) Plus announces that Pieter Groenewald’s appointment as Minister of Correctional Services has resulted in slight adjustments to the party’s parliamentary team.

Groenewald is part of the national executive sworn in after the 29 May polls, which earmarked the beginning of the seventh administration. 

FF PLUS ANNOUNCES CHANGES TO ITS PARLIAMENTARY TEAM 

The party said Corné Mulder, South Africa’s longest-serving Member of Parliament (MP), has been appointed as the party’s parliamentary leader. He previously served as the chief whip.

Wouter Wessels has been appointed the new chief whip, while Heloïse Denner will serve as whip. Notably, Wessels was also elected as the chairperson of the Standing Committee on the Auditor-General (AG) of the National Assembly.

The rest of the FF Plus parliamentary team includes Wynand Boshoff, Philip van Staden, Tammy Breedt and Kobus van den Berg.

‘SOUTH AFRICA IS AN ARTIFICIAL UNION’

Boshoff made his debut in Parliament following the 2019 elections. He told Cape Argus that he does not want to be compared to his grandfather instead, he wants to be seen as his own man.

“Throughout my life I’ve got used to the fact that my grandpa [Verwoerd] was a politician, revered in some communities, viewed as a villain by others. I’ve been met with friendly and unfriendly comments. I’m my own person and the main issues I want to address are those of minority groups,” he told the publication.

Boshoff’s father actually founded the whites-only town of Orania, and his brother remains the president of the racist enclave.

Ahead of the National and Provincial Elections in May, Boshoff who is the FF Plus leader in the Northern Cape, told AFP that the development of parallel Afrikaner structures could be seen as a “pre-emptive response” to what he sees as the marginalisation of his community.

“I think a process which is busy happening at the moment already is that Afrikaners are becoming all the more self-reliant,” he said, describing how white communities are trying to develop their own services, such as electricity.