Background
Hendrick was born on June 11, 1927, at Delmas, 40 miles east of Johannesburg.
Hendrick was born on June 11, 1927, at Delmas, 40 miles east of Johannesburg.
Matriculated from the Afrikaans Boys' High School, Pretoria in 1945 and sent to the United States of America to study agricultural methods.
On his return to the Transvaal he concentrated on becoming a large-scale farmer with the most advanced techniques and the best equipment. Soon his agricultural interests prospered in the districts of Delmas, Nigel, Groblersdal and Bronkhorstspruit. He became chairman of the Langeborg Cooperative the largest cooperative canning enterprise in the world chairman of the Delmas Consumer Association and a member of the Maize Committee of the Transvaal Agricultural Union.
He entered Parliament after the general election on March 30, 1966, as MP for Standerton. An active, well-informed back-bencher on agricultural affairs, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Agriculture on August 30, 1968. Prime Minister Vorster picked him as one of the “men of new ideas” for his cabinet to take over from D. C. H. Uys, who had been Minister of Agriculture for 14 years.
An eager politician, brought into the cabinet by Prime Minister Vorster when he needed new blood to revitalise his administration. One of the country’s wealthiest farmer with 24 managers running his 14 farms he steered clear of politics until he was almost 40 years old. Then he climbed rapidly. Bespectacled and with a trim moustache, he has an impressive, direct style in Parliament. In less than two years he made his mark and was appointed a deputy minister. Four years later he succeeded his chief at the Ministry of Agriculture and became one of the youngest members of the cabinet at 45.