In an open letter to the public on 20 September 1960, as quoted by N. F. Hefer & G. C. Basson in Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd, Pictorial Biography 1901-1… - Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd

After half a century of co-operation – difficult, at times very difficult – a stage has been reached when both groups [i.e. Afrikaans and English-speaking whites] as never before are faced with a challenge to bury the past, to let it become the combined history of a unified volk/people. Today we are faced with threats for the future of our civilization, for our prosperity, for the contribution of the white man of Africa to the struggle of the white man of Europe and America to retain his hegemony in the world. Also to make Christianity victorious, sacrifices must be made, and nowhere is Christianity more threatened than in Africa. Sacrifices of sentiment is expected of everybody. There must not only be a union of provinces in South Africa. There must also be a union of hearts.

[True democracy] is not what the Communists practice. It is not even what the African states practice. But that is the pressure being exerted when demands are made upon our country. In other words, the process towards integration [would inexorably] lead to Bantu domination, a situation from which there would be no escape. … [Coloureds and Indians] must not think that the colour of their skins will protect them. The minority groups will all have to contend with an unrestricted domination by the Bantu if a multi-racial state comes into being. … the people of South Africa cannot accept the consequence of a multi-racial state unless the Whites, the Coloureds and the Indians are prepared to commit race suicide.

Translated from Afrikaans: Die Britte het tot die dood toe vir hul wesenlike bestaan geveg. Kan u nie verstaan dat ons dit ook doen nie?