Wilhelm Verwoerd

Wilhelm Johannes Verwoerd (born 21 February 1964) is a South African facilitator and researcher based at Stellenbosch University and a social activist.

The grandson of Hendrik Verwoerd, known as the architect of the apartheid regime, Verwoerd has disavowed the views with which his family is widely associated and joined the ANC.

Born in Pretoria to Wilhelm and Elise (née Smit) Verwoerd on 21 February 1964, Wilhelm is a member a prominent Afrikaner family.

His grandfather was South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd.

Although raised in a family and environment that frowned on racial integration, he changed his stance on apartheid after studying in the Netherlands and at Oxford University.

Verwoerd married Melanie Fourie in 1987, with whom he had two children, Wilmé (born 1990) and Wian (born 1992).

He holds an MA in Philosophy from Stellenbosch University in 1989, an MA in PPE from the University of Oxford and a PhD in Applied Ethics from the University of Johannesburg.

Verwoerd's research focuses largely on reconciliation, forgiveness and apology, on which he has written several articles.

He was a researcher in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

In 1992, Verwoerd formally joined the ANC, which drew a lot of criticism and threats from militant Afrikaners - given his family roots.

This brought strife with his own family.

He worked as a programme co-ordinator and a co-facilitator in Ireland, within the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation's Survivors and former Combatants Programme between 2002 and 2011.

They divorced in 2005.

Wilhelm later married his second wife Sharon, who is Australian.

He is a former co-director of Beyond Walls Ltd. From 2019 he is a senior researcher and facilitator within Studies in Historical Trauma and Transformation, Stellenbosch University.