Messenger of death
In this extract from his book about Dimitri Tsafendas, Harris Dousemetzis recounts the day the parliamentary messenger bought a pair of knives and entered the assembly chamber with one target in mind: the architect of apartheid
At 9.05 am on Tuesday September 6 1966, Dimitri Tsafendas entered City Guns, at 57 Hout Street, Cape Town, owned by Tony Harrison, and asked about the sheath knives in the window. Harrison placed two on the counter top. Glancing curiously at his first customer of the day, he thought he might be a fisherman or a merchant seaman. Tsafendas slipped one knife onto his belt and inside his trousers and moved about experimentally. He was comfortable with knives. As a child, one of his favourite possessions was a bayonet from the first Balkan War, a gift from his grandmother, while his father had often hand-crafted blades when he worked for the Iscor Iron and Steel Works in Pretoria. The knife, priced at R3.30, less than $5 at the time, was a regular, all-purpose product, with a metal scabbard and a spring clip to keep the blade in place. Satisfied, Tsafendas nodded and paid with a R10 note from his wallet. As Harrison counted out the change, his customer pointed to an advertisement for a firearm and asked if a licence was necessary for such a weapon. When told yes, Tsafendas nodded and left.
A few metres down the street was Maurice Klein’s hardware store, William Rawbone & Co. Tsafendas wanted a back-up knife in case something happened to the first, but he thought it best not to get both from the same source. He bought the second knife from the store; known as a Black Forest, it was more a stiletto with a patterned aluminium handle, a sheath and a silvered, double-edged blade nearly six inches [16cm] long.
While Tsafendas was buying the knives, Prime Minister Dr Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd and his wife Betsie were flying into Cape Town airport from Stokkiesdraai, St Lucia, a modest coastal resort town in Natal where they had spent a weekend relaxing with family. A waiting limousine sped the couple directly to Groote Schuur, the prime minister’s official residence in Cape Town. There, Verwoerd began preparing for his scheduled appearance in parliament that afternoon. It would be his first major speech of the current session and he had his hair cut for the occasion. A morning’s work done, the premier and his wife ate a light lunch, then were driven together to the House of Assembly.
Tsafendas turned towards the same destination. A 15-minute walk took him through the public
Tsafendas wanted a back-up knife in case something happened to the first, but he thought it best not to get both from the same source