Tsafendas was brutally tortured while he was in custody with electric shocks, beatings, and mock hangings. During his interrogation, Tsafendas gave incontestable political reasons for killing Verwoerd: "I did believe that with the disappearance of the South African prime minister a change of policy would take place. I did set myself the task of destroying the prime minister. It was my own idea to kill him. No one offered me any reward for doing so. I did not care about the consequences, for what would happen to me afterwards. I was so disgusted with the racial policy that I went through with my plans to kill the prime minister... I wanted to see a government representing all the South African people. I do not think the Nationalist government is representative of the people and I wanted to see a different government".