__NOTOC__ This list of people subject to banning orders under apartheid lists a selection of people subject to a "banning order" by the

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

-era South African government. Banning was a repressive and

extrajudicial Extrajudicial punishment is a punishment for an alleged crime or offense which is carried out without legal process or supervision by a court or tribunal through a legal proceeding. Politically motivated Extrajudicial punishment is often a fe ...

measure used by the South African

regime (1948–1994) against its political opponents.Number of banned persons in South Africa totals 936
at South African History Online The legislative authority for banning orders was firstly the

Suppression of Communism Act, 1950 The Suppression of Communism Act, 1950 (Act No. 44 of 1950), renamed the Internal Security Act in 1976, was legislation of the national government in apartheid South Africa which formally banned the Communist Party of South Africa and proscribed ...

, which defined virtually all opposition to the ruling National Party as

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

. This was superseded by the

Internal Security Act, 1982 The Internal Security Act, 1982 (Act No. 74 of 1982) was an act of the Parliament of South Africa that consolidated and replaced various earlier pieces of security legislation, including the Suppression of Communism Act, 1950, parts of the Ri ...

. The regime ceased to deploy bannings and lifted all remaining banning orders in 1990, in the run-up to the

advent Advent is a Christian season of preparation for the Nativity of Christ at Christmas. It is the beginning of the liturgical year in Western Christianity. The name was adopted from Latin "coming; arrival", translating Greek '' parousia''. ...

democracy in South Africa Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose go ...

in 1994.South Africa profile - Timeline - BBC News
/ref> A banning order entailed restrictions on where the banned person could live and who they could have contact with, required that they report weekly to a police station, and proscribed them from travelling outside a specific magisterial district. The banned person was prohibited from attending meetings of any kind, speaking in public, or publishing or distributing any written material. It proscribed broadcasters and the press from broadcasting, publishing or reporting the banned person's words. It thus mixed elements of

exile Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...

suppression order A gag order (also known as a gagging order or suppression order) is an order, typically a legal order by a court or government, restricting information or comment from being made public or passed onto any unauthorized third party. The phrase may ...

s and

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

. The prohibition on attending meetings meant that the banned person could not be with more than one other person at a time. The banned person was forbidden all contact with other banned persons and was forbidden to engage in any political activity. The penalty for violating a banning order was up to five years in prison.

Some people subject to banning orders

Over 1600 people have been subjected to banning orders. Prominent among these are: Steve Biko Portrait saho

* Eric Abraham: Banned for intended 5 years in 1976, fled to Botswana in 1977, granted political asylum in UK. * John Aitchison: banned 1965–1970, 1971–1976. *

Phyllis Altman Phyllis Altman (25 September 1919 – 18 September 1999) was a trade unionist and anti-apartheid activist in South Africa. Altman was an employee of the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU). She was also the general secretary of the Inte ...

: Banned in 1964. *

Jacqueline Arenstein Jacqueline Arenstein (born 6 June 1921) was a South African anti-apartheid activist. A member of the South African Communist Party (SACP) from the age of 21, she was a defendant in the 1956 Treason Trial and repeatedly banned from the 1960s thr ...

: Banned in 1963, 1973 and 1978. * Farouk Asvat: banned 1973 to 197

*

Mabel Balfour Mabel Balfour was a South African trade unionist and an anti-apartheid activist. Balfour was first involved with the unions representing food and canning workers. After many leaders in the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) were arrest ...

: Banned in 1963. *

Saul Bastomsky Saul (; he, , ; , ; ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first monarch of the United Kingdom of Israel. His reign, traditionally placed in the late 11th century BCE, supposedly marked the transition of Israel and Judah from a scattered tri ...

: Banned in 1965, emigrated to UK, 1966 to Australia * Mary Benson: Banned in 1966., p. 49 *

Jean Bernadt Jean Bernadt (née Alkin) (19 May 1914 – 9 April 2011) was a South African anti-apartheid activist. She was an active member of the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), the Congress of Democrats, the Federation of South African Women and th ...

: Banned 1959 to 1964. *

Hilda Bernstein Hilda Bernstein (15 May 1915 – 8 September 2006) was a British-born author, artist, and an activist against apartheid and for women's rights. She was born Hilda Schwarz in London, England, and emigrated to South Africa at the age of 18 years ...

: Banned 1953 and 1958. *

Lionel Bernstein Lionel "Rusty" Bernstein (20 March 1920 – 23 June 2002) was a Jewish South African anti-apartheid activist and political prisoner. He played a key role in political organizations such as the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the Africa ...

: Banned 1950 and 1953. *

Steve Biko Bantu Stephen Biko (18 December 1946 – 12 September 1977) was a South African anti-apartheid activist. Ideologically an African nationalist and African socialist, he was at the forefront of a grassroots anti-apartheid campaign known ...

: Banned February 1973 to 1977 (killed in police custody). * Brian Brown: Banned 17 October 1977 for five years.Cited in article on Peter Ralph Randall * Peter Brown: Banned for 5 years July 1964, renewed for a further 5 years 1969. *

Dennis Brutus Dennis Vincent Brutus (28 November 1924 – 26 December 2009) was a South African activist, educator, journalist and poet best known for his campaign to have South Africa banned from the Olympic Games due to its racial policy of apartheid. ...

: Banned for 5 years, October 1960. *

Neville Curtis Neville Wilson Curtis (born South Africa 16 October 1947; died Tasmania on 15 February 2007) was an anti-apartheid activist and leader of the National Union of South African Students. Curtis' parents John (Jack) and Joyce were active against a ...

(ex-president of

NUSAS The National Union of South African Students (NUSAS) was an important force for liberalism and later radicalism in South African student anti-apartheid politics. Its mottos included non-racialism and non-sexism. Early history NUSAS was founde ...

): Banned 27 February 1973; restrictions lifted 1976. *

Yusuf Dadoo Yusuf Mohamed Dadoo (5 September 1909 – 19 September 1983) was a South African Communist and an anti-apartheid activist. During his life, he was chair of both the South African Indian Congress and the South African Communist Party ...

: Banned 1953 until exile and death in 1983. * Lionel Davis: Banned 1971 to 1976. * Cosmas Desmond: Author of “The Discarded People” which exposed the sufferings of people who were forcibly moved from their homes. *

Patrick Duncan Patrick Duncan may refer to: *Sir Patrick Duncan (South African politician) (1870–1943), Governor-General of South Africa * Patrick Sheane Duncan (born 1947), American writer, film producer and director *Paddy Duncan (1894–1949), Irish footbal ...

: Banned 1961, 1962; went into exile 1962 *

Bettie du Toit Bettie du Toit Order of Luthuli, OLS (also Elizabeth Sophia Honman, born July 15, 1910, in Transvaal Province, Union of South Africa, died January 31, 2002, in Johannesburg, South Africa) was a trade unionist and Anti-Apartheid Movement, anti-ap ...

: Banned in 1952. * Paula Ensor (member of NUSAS): Banned 27 February 1973 to 31 March 1978. Left for Botswana clandestinely in 1976. *

Vic Finkelstein Victor (Vic) Berel Finkelstein (25 January 1938 – 30 November 2011) was a disability rights activist and writer. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa and later living in Britain, Finkelstein is known as a pioneer of the social model of disability ...

: Banned for five years in 1967 and emigrated to the UK in 1968. *

Ruth First Heloise Ruth First (4 May 1925 – 17 August 1982) was a South African anti- apartheid activist and scholar. She was assassinated in Mozambique, where she was working in exile, by a parcel bomb built by South African police. Family and ed ...

: Banned 1960 to 1982 (killed in exile by police letter bomb). *

Ela Gandhi Ela Gandhi (born 1 July 1940), is a South African peace activist and former politician. She served as a Member of Parliament in South Africa from 1994 to 2004, where she aligned with the African National Congress (ANC) party representing the Ph ...

: Banned in 1975. * Alcott 'Skei' Gwentshe: Banned November 1952; sentenced to 9 years in prison for violating the banning order, 26 March 1953. *

Bertha Gxowa Bertha Gxowa (née Mashaba November 26, 1934 - November 19, 2010) was an anti-apartheid and women's rights activist and trade unionist in South Africa. Biography Gxowa was born in Germiston. She first started working as an office assistant in th ...

: Banned in 1960. * Adelaine Hain: Banned in 1963. * Viola Hashe: Banned in 1963 until her death in 1977. *

Ruth Hayman Ruth Hayman (1913 - 1981) was a lawyer and anti-apartheid campaigner. She was one of the first women in South Africa to qualify as an attorney. Through the Black Sash organisation, Hayman offered free legal advice to many people, usually women, ...

: Banned from 1966 to 1981 (died in exile). * Sedick Isaacs: Banned from 1977 to 1984. *

Helen Joseph Helen Beatrice Joseph (''née'' Fennell) (8 April 1905 – 25 December 1992) was a South African anti-apartheid activist. Born in Sussex, England, Helen graduated with a degree in English from the University of London in 1927 and then departe ...

: Banned four times, starting in 1957. *

Ronnie Kasrils Ronald Kasrils (born 15 November 1938) is a South African politician, Marxist revolutionary, guerrilla and military commander. He was Minister for Intelligence Services from 27 April 2004 to 25 September 2008. He was a member of the National ...

: Banned 1962 to 1990. * Clive Keegan (ex-vice-president of NUSAS): Banned 27 February 1973 for five years; left for Botswana clandestinely in 1976. * Bennie Khoapa: Banned 1973 to 1978; went into exile 1978. * Theo Kotze: Banned 17 October 1977 for five years. * Sheila Barsel Lapinsky (general secretary of NUSAS): Banned 27 February 1973 to 31 March 1978. The only one of the group of NUSAS members banned on that date to serve her time in the country. * Philippe Le Roux (NUSAS member): Banned 27 February 1973 for five years. Left the country on an exit permit. * Norman Levy: Banned in 1964, left for UK in 1968. * Petrus Willem Letlalo (founding member of the ANC): Banned 1960 to 1980, including under banning order number 1527. Died at the age of 99, after a debilitating stroke in 1981. *

Albert Lutuli Albert John Mvumbi Luthuli ( – 21 July 1967) was a South African anti-apartheid activist, traditional leader, and politician who served as the President-General of the African National Congress from 1952 until his death in 1967. Luthuli wa ...

: Banned 1952 to 1967. *

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Winnie Madikizela-Mandela (born Nomzamo Winifred Zanyiwe Madikizela; 26 September 1936 – 2 April 2018), also known as Winnie Mandela, was a South African anti-apartheid activist and politician, and the second wife of Nelson Mandela. She ser ...

* Elizabeth Mafekeng: Banned in 1959. *

Mac Maharaj Sathyandranath Ragunanan "Mac" Maharaj (born 22 April 1936 in Newcastle, Natal) is a retired South African politician affiliated with the African National Congress, academic and businessman of Indian origin. He was the official spokesperson ...

: Banned on release from prison in 1976; went into exile in 1977. *

Trevor Manuel Trevor Andrew Manuel (born 31 January 1956) is a South African politician who served in the government of South Africa as Minister of Finance from 1996 to 2009, during the presidencies of Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe, and ...

: Banned 1985 to 1986, banned again 1988. * Joe Matthews: Banned in 1953; went into exile in 1960. * Cedric Mayson: Banned 17 October 1977 for five years. *

Fatima Meer Fatima Meer (12 August 1928 – 12 March 2010) was a South African writer, academic, screenwriter, and prominent anti-apartheid activist. Early life Fatima Meer was born in the Grey Streets of Durban, South Africa, into a middle-class famil ...

: Banned in 1952. *

Florence Mkhize Florence Grace Mkhize (1932 – July 10, 1999) was an anti-apartheid activist and women's movement leader. Mkhize was usually called 'Mam Flo'. Mkhize was also involved in trade unions in South Africa, organizing for the South African Congress o ...

: Banned in 1952. * Mary Moodley: Banned in 1963. *

Josie Mpama Josie Mpama (21 March 1903 – 3 December 1979), born Josephine Palmer, was a South African anti-apartheid and labor activist. A forceful campaigner against racial segregation and for labor and women's rights, she is considered the first black wo ...

: Banned in 1955. *

Shulamith Muller Shulamith Muller (née Movshowitz, December 1922 - July 1978) was a South African lawyer, communist, and anti-apartheid activist. Muller was one of the attorneys for the 1956 Treason Trial. Biography Muller was born in Pretoria in December 19 ...

: Banned in 1962; went into exile in 1962 (died in exile in 1978). *

Beyers Naudé Christiaan Frederick Beyers Naudé (10 May 1915 – 7 September 2004) was a South African Afrikaner Calvinist Dominee, theologian and the leading Afrikaner anti-apartheid activist. He was known simply as Beyers Naudé, or more colloquially, ...

: Banned 1977 to 1984. *

Rita Ndzanga Rita Alice Ndzanga (, 17 October 1933 – 17 August 2022) was a South African anti-apartheid activist and trade unionist. Biography Ndzanga was born on 17 October 1933 in Mogopa village, near Ventersdorp. Her family moved back and forth betwe ...

: Banned in 1964. *

J. B. Marks J. B. Marks (21 March 1903 – 1 August 1972) joined the South African Communist Party (SACP) in 1928, at the age of 25.Roth, 2015, p. 200 He was sent to the Soviet Union for the first time in 1930, as a student at the Communist University of the ...

: Banned 1950 to 1972 (died in exile). *

Barney Pityana Nyameko Barney Pityana FKC GCOB (born 7 August 1945) is a human rights lawyer and theologian in South Africa. He is an exponent of Black theology. Biography Pityana was born in Uitenhage and attended the University of Fort Hare. He was one ...

Paul Pretorius Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

(NUSAS president): Banned from 27 February 1973 for five years, but his restrictions were lifted in 1976. * Ronnie_Kasrils_-_Russell_Tribunal

Mamphela Ramphele Mamphela Aletta Ramphele (; born 28 December 1947) is a South African politician, an activist against apartheid, a medical doctor, an academic and businesswoman. She was a partner of anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko, with whom she had two chil ...

: Banned 1977 to 1984. * Peter Ralph Randall: Banned 17 October 1977 for five years. * Robert Resha: Banned 1961 (died in exile in 1973). * Ian Robertson (NUSAS president): Banned 1966 to 1971. * Marius Schoon: Banned 1976 to 1990. *

Jeanette Schoon Jeanette, Jeannette or Jeanetta may refer to: * Jeanette (given name), a given name (including a list of people and fictional characters with the name) Places * Jeannette, Ontario, Canada * Jeannette Island, Russia * Jeannette, Pennsylvania, U.S ...

(née Curtis), former member of the

South African Congress of Trade Unions The South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) was a national trade union federation in South Africa. History The federation was established in March 1955, after right wing unions dissolved the South African Trades and Labour Council in 1954 ...

(SACTU), wife of Marius Schoon and sister of

: Banned 1976 for five years. Murdered in exile in

Angola , national_anthem = "Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordinat ...

by a letter bomb delivered by

Craig Williamson Craig Michael Williamson (born 1949), is a former officer in the South African Police, who was exposed as a spy and assassin for the Security Branch (South Africa), Security Branch in 1980. Williamson was involved in a series of events involvi ...

, a spy for the security police, along with her six-year-old daughter. * Dulcie September: Banned 1969 to 1973 (assassinated outside the ANC's Paris office in 1988). *

Annie Silinga Annie Silinga (1910-1984) was a South African anti-pass laws and anti-apartheid political activist. She is known for her role as the Cape Town African National Congress Women's League President, a leader in the 1956 anti-pass Women's March to th ...

Walter Sisulu Walter Max Ulyate Sisulu (18 May 1912 – 5 May 2003) was a South African anti-apartheid activist and member of the African National Congress (ANC). Between terms as ANC Secretary-General (1949–1954) and ANC Deputy President (1991–1994), h ...

: Banned 1955 to 1990. *

Robert Sobukwe Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe (5 December 1924 – 27 February 1978) was a prominent South African anti-apartheid revolutionary and founding member of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), serving as the first president of the organization. Sobukwe w ...

: Banned 1969 to 1978. *

Oliver Tambo Oliver Reginald Kaizana Tambo (27 October 191724 April 1993) was a South African anti-apartheid politician and revolutionary who served as President of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1967 to 1991. Biography Higher education Oliv ...

: Banned 1959 to 1990. * Rick Turner: Banned 27 February 1973, murdered 1978. * Chris Wood: Banned 27 February 1973. Left for Botswana clandestinely in 1976. * Dorothy Williams: Banned 1964 to 1969. *

Donald Woods Donald James Woods (15 December 1933 – 19 August 2001) was a South African journalist and anti-apartheid activist. As editor of the ''Daily Dispatch'', he was known for befriending fellow activist Steve Biko, who was killed by police after ...

: Banned 1977 to 1990.

References

{{Reflist

Some people subject to banning orders

See also

References

Further reading