Home > Christiaan Frederick Beyers Naudé

One of eight children, he was born in Roodepoort , Transvaal but grew up in Cape Town. He was named after a general his father had served under during the second Anglo-Boer War. Naudé studied theology at the University of Stellenbosch, where one of his teachers was the future prime minister (and driving force behind so-called grand apartheid) H.F. Verwoerd.

Beyers Naudé's father was an Afrikaner cleric and a founder of the Broederbond ("Brotherhood" or "League of Brothers" in Afrikaans), a powerful Afrikaner male secret society which played a dominant role in apartheid South Africa. The Broederbond became especially synonymous with the Afrikaner-dominated National PartySouth African political parties The National Party (sometimes called the Nationalists or Nats was the governing party of South Africa from 1948 to 1994. Its policies included apartheid, establishing a republic and the promotion of Afrikaner culture. Found that won power in 19481948 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). Events January January 1 Nationalisation of UK railways to form British Railways. Arab militants lay siege to the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. First day of the Ital and started to implement the racial segregation policy of apartheid.

Like his father, Naudé became a cleric in the South African Dutch Reformed ChurchThe Dutch Reformed Church or Netherlands Reformed Church (in Dutch: Nederlandse Hervormde Kerk (NHK)) is a denomination of Christian Protestantism based on the teachings of John Calvin. It is the oldest Reformed church in the Netherlands and formerly enjo and joined the Broederbond, preaching a religious justification for apartheid. However, he began to doubt the religious justification for apartheid after attending interracial church services in the 1950's. After the Sharpeville MassacreThe Sharpeville Massacre occurred on March 21, 1960, when South African police opened fire on a crowd of black protesters. The confrontation occurred in the township of Sharpeville, in what is now Gauteng province. The African National Congress (ANC) had in 1960Events January-February January 1 Independence of Cameroon January 9 Aswan High Dam construction begins in Egypt January 11 Chad declares its independence. January 14 Ralph Chubb, the gay poet and printer, dies at Fair Oak Cottage in Hampshire. January 23 (during which the South African police killed 69 blacks protesting restrictions on their freedom of movement), his faith in his church's teachings was completely shattered; he was alone among his church's delegates in supporting a landmark proclamation in the same year by the World Council of ChurchesThe World Council of Churches (or WCC is the principal international Christian ecumenical organization. Based in Geneva, Switzerland, it has a membership of 342 churches. After the initial successes of the Ecumenical Movement in the late 19th and early 20 that rejected any theological basis for apartheid.

As a result of his actions, Naudé was put under enormous pressure by the Afrikaner political and church establishment and he thus subsequently quit both his church post and Johannesburg congregation as well as resigned from the Broederbond in 1963Events January-March January 11 The Whisky A Go-Go night club in Los Angeles, the first disco in the USA, is opened. January 14 George Wallace becomes governor of Alabama. January 22 Elysee treaty between France and Germany January 28 Black student Harvey. The Dutch Reformed Church later left the World Council of Churches. In 19801980 is a leap year starting on Tuesday. Events January-February January 1- April 1 National steel strike in United Kingdom January 1 Changes to the Swedish Act of Succession creates Victoria of Sweden, Crown Princess over her younger brother January 5 He, Naudé was admitted as a cleric to the Dutch Reformed church's black African affiliate.

During the three decades subsequent to his resignation, Naudé's vocal support for racial reconciliation and equal rights led to upheavals in the Dutch Reformed Church as well as police surveillance of his private life. He became an underground supporter of the anti-apartheid resistance and helped to move its members in and out of the country. From 1977 to 1984, the South African government declared him a "banned person" (which meant a de facto form of house arrest), that severely restricted his movements and interactions with others.

After his unbanning in 1985, he succeeded Archbishop Desmond Tutu as chairman of the South African Council of Churches . Naudé was also the only Afrikaner member of the African National Congress delegation during the negotiations in the early 1990's with the National Pary government which led to the transition to democracy.

Despite his long association with the African National Congress, Naudé never actually joined the party. This fact, as well as the constant ill health he suffered from during the last few years of his life, caused him to be politically sidelined.

His official state funeral took place on Saturday 18 September 2004, with President Thabo Mbeki and other dignitaries and high-ranking ANC officials in attendance. Naudé's ashes were scattered in the township of Alexandra, just outside Johannesburg.

He was survived by his wife Ilse and four children.

In 2004 he was voted 36th in the Top 100 Great South Africans (see List of South Africans)