a single gunshot through a window. The bullet entered at the back of his neck and left near his eye, leaving a wound as big as a man's fist. Although the police would not speculate on a motive, many were convinced that Heyns was killed by white extremists. Shortly after his assassination, a secretary of Die Burger, an Afrikaans newspaper, received threats that three Afrikaans-speaking cabinet members would be next. The caller told the secretary that he had already lost everything as a result of affirmative action: "We belong… I belong to no organization. And this will not be the last one." Subsequent threats followed, indicating that Mandela was also a target. Motives His Biblical view against Apartheid that led to the schism with and founding of the Afrikaanse Protestantse Kerk and the declaration of apartheid as a sin was interpreted by some as an act of treason against the political and ethical values and aspirations of the Afrikaners. Heyns' assassin left very few clues, and no arrests have been made. In the book The Tall Assassin: the darkest political murders of the old South Africa it is claimed that he was killed because he was a double agent. See also List of people assassinated in Africa List of unsolved murders References External links Parts of this Article were translated from additional information available in the Afrikaans Wikipedia-article "Johan Heyns" "Theological Development in the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa" from Theological Forum, Vol. XXIII, No. 4, December 1995, with a description of Heyns's contributions J A Heyns en die Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk en Apartheid – D.Th. thesis by Henry Hofmeyr Williams at the University of the Free State. It contains an extensive analysis of Heyns' Theological viewpoints and accomplishments, and includes significant information on his background as Afrikaner and the role he had played in the eventual declaration of the Dutch Reformed Church that Apartheid was sin in Afrikaans. 1928 births 1994 murders in South Africa 1994 deaths 20th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians Afrikaner people Assassinated activists Assassinated religious leaders Calvinist and Reformed philosophers Deaths by firearm in South Africa Members of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa North-West University alumni People murdered in South Africa South African Calvinist and Reformed theologians Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa clergy South African murder victims South African people of Dutch descent University of Pretoria alumni Academic staff of the University