Wynand Johannes Boshoff (born 26 May 1970) is a South African academic and politician from the

Northern Cape The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi T ...

serving as a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa for the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) since 2019. He has been serving as the Provincial Leader of the FF+ since 2015. He previously served as a municipal councillor of the

Sol Plaatje Local Municipality The Sol Plaatje Local Municipality is a local municipality in the Frances Baard District Municipality district of the Northern Cape province, South Africa, named after Sol T. Plaatje. It includes the diamond mining city of Kimberley. Main places ...

from 2016 to 2019. Boshoff is the grandson of the assassinated

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

-era

Prime Minister of South Africa The prime minister of South Africa ( af, Eerste Minister van Suid-Afrika) was the head of government in South Africa between 1910 and 1984. History of the office The position of Prime Minister was established in 1910, when the Union of Sout ...

, Hendrik Verwoerd, who served from 1958 until 1966, and the son of Afrikaner enclave

Orania Orania () is an Afrikaner separatist town founded by Afrikaners in South Africa. It is located along the Orange River in the Karoo region of the Northern Cape province. The town is split in two halves by the R369 road, and is from Cape Tow ...

founder, Carel Boshoff.

Early life and education

Boshoff was born in

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

in the

Transvaal Province The Province of the Transvaal ( af, Provinsie van Transvaal), commonly referred to as the Transvaal (; ), was a province of South Africa from 1910 until 1994, when a new constitution subdivided it following the end of apartheid. The name "Trans ...

as one of the children of Carel Boshoff and Anna Boshoff, daughter of

Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd (; 8 September 1901 – 6 September 1966) was a South African politician, a scholar of applied psychology and sociology, and chief editor of ''Die Transvaler'' newspaper. He is commonly regarded as the architect ...

. Verwoerd served as

(1958–1966) and is described as the "architect of apartheid". Verwoerd was assassinated in 1966 by parliamentary messenger Dimitri Tsafendas. Boshoff matriculated from high school in 1988 and went on to achieve a BA degree in Afrikaans and History at university. He obtained a master's degree in sustainable agriculture from the

University of the Free State The University of the Free State is a multi-campus public university in Bloemfontein, the capital of the Free State (province), Free State and the judicial capital of South Africa. It was first established as an institution of higher learning in ...

in 2004 and acquired a PhD in education sciences from the

University of Pretoria The University of Pretoria ( af, Universiteit van Pretoria, nso, Yunibesithi ya Pretoria) is a multi-campus public university, public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and de facto capital of South Africa. The university was ...

in 2011. He submitted his doctoral dissertation on "Employability of Successful Matriculants Toward Curriculum Studies and Instructional Design".

Political career

In 2011, he became an ordinary branch member of the Freedom Front Plus, despite vowing in high school that he would never become active in politics. He was soon promoted to the post of Provincial Leader of the FF+ in April 2015. In August 2016, Boshoff became a PR councillor of the

, centred around the town of

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

.Head, Tom
Wynand Boshoff: Newly-elected MP from Orania wants “judging on merit”
''The South African'', 15 May 2019. Retrieved on 7 September 2019. In May 2019, Boshoff was elected a Member of the

National Assembly of South Africa The National Assembly is the directly elected house of the Parliament of South Africa, located in Cape Town, Western Cape. It consists of four hundred members who are elected every five years using a party-list proportional representation syste ...

. Media reports revealed that he is a grandchild of Hendrik Verwoerd, which consequently generated criticism of Boshoff. Boshoff responded to the criticism by stating that he wants to be judged by his own merits and not those of his grandfather's.Sleisho, Kaunda
Verwoerd’s Orania-linked grandson set to become MP
''The Citizen'', 14 May 2019. Retrieved on 7 September 2019.

Personal life

Boshoff has five children and resides in

and

References

External links

Wynand Johannes Boshoff − People's Assembly

Dr Wynand Johannes Boshoff − Parliament of South Africa
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boshoff, Wynand Living people Afrikaner people Politicians from Pretoria People from Kimberley, Northern Cape Orania, Northern Cape 21st-century South African politicians Freedom Front Plus politicians Members of the National Assembly of South Africa University of the Free State alumni University of Pretoria alumni 1970 births