Carel Boshoff

Carel Boshoff
Carel Boshoff (2009)
Born	Carel Willem Hendrik Boshoff (1927-11-09)9 November 1927 Nylstroom, Transvaal South Africa
Died	16 March 2011(2011-03-16) (aged 83) Orania, Northern Cape South Africa
Alma mater	University of Pretoria
Occupation	Professor
Spouse(s)	Anna Verwoerd

Carel Willem Hendrik Boshoff (9 November 1927 – 16 March 2011) was a South African professor of theology and Afrikaner cultural activist.

Boshoff was born in Nylstroom in the Transvaal Province as the second child of Willem Sterrenberg Boshoff and Anna Maria "Annie" Boshoff. Boshoff's mother, Anna, was the second wife of his father; together they had 7 children in addition to the six from his father's first marriage. Carel Boshoff spent much of his youth at his father's ranch in the Waterberg District in the northern Transvaal, attended the University of Pretoria and attained his doctorate in theology in 1951 after doing missionary work throughout the old Transvaal Province. He spoke the iSepedi (Northern Sotho) language fluently and served as Secretary of Missions for the Dutch Reformed Church.

Boshoff's wife (also named Anna), whom he married in 1954, was the daughter of Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd who served as prime minister of South Africa (1958-1966) and became known as the architect of apartheid. They had 7 children; she died in 2007. Boshoff led the Voortrekker movement from 1981 to 1989. Further, he served as chairman of the Afrikaner Broederbond from 1980 to 1983. He chaired the Freedom Front in Northern Cape from 1994. In 1988 he founded AVSTIG or Afrikaner Vryheidstigting, although he is mainly known as the founder in 1990 of Orania, an Afrikaner settlement intended as the beginning of a volkstaat. Boshoff admitted his disappointment that it Orania had only 810 residents rather than the 60,000 he had anticipated. In 2004 Orania issued its own currency, the Ora. The area is noted for its Koeksister monument. Boshoff was the president of the Orania movement ('Orania beweging') until 2007. After he became disabled due to illness, his son, Carel Boshoff IV, took over all the above positions.