The Unlawful Organizations Act No 34 of 1960 (commenced 7 April 1960) allowed the

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

government of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

to declare unlawful any organizations deemed to threaten public order or the safety of the public. This legislation was enacted within a few weeks of 1960's Sharpeville Massacre. The Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) and

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

(ANC) were immediately declared unlawful.

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...

recorded in his

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...

, "We were now, all of us, outlaws". The Indemnity Act that followed legislatively indemnified supporters of the apartheid regime from any wrongdoing connected to the massacre.

Content of the Act

The following is a brief description of the sections of the Unlawful Organizations Act: ;Section 1 Defined that the Pan Africanist Congress and the ANC could be declared an unlawful organisation by the Governor-general, without giving them notice, via a proclamation in the Government Gazette. Defined that any other organisation deemed unlawful organisation by the Governor-general could be banned. Defined that the banning was for twelve months and could extended after that time-period for another twelve months. Defined that the Governor-general could unban an organisation via the Government Gazette. ;Section 2 Defines the use of certain sections of Suppression of Communism Act, 1950 to apply to organisations proclaimed as unlawful. ;Section 3 Defined that any organisation that was proclaimed as being banned, that proclamation would be reported to parliament within fourteen days or with fourteen days of parliaments recommencement. ;Section 4 Defined that section 15 of the Riotous Assemblies Act, 1956, substituted the word "liable" with "“to the penalties prescribed in section two of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1953 (Act No. 8 of 1953)” and that is applied from 28 March 1960. ;Section 5 Defined that the Act applied in South-West Africa. ;Section 6 Defined the name of the Act.

Amended

Section 2 of this act was amended in section 20 of the General Law Amendment Act No. 76 of 1962.

Repeal

The Unlawful Organizations Act was repealed by section 73 of 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 ...

. However, the Internal Security Act contained similar provisions allowing the government to ban organizations. The bans on the ANC, the PAC and other anti-apartheid groups were lifted in 1990 at the start of the negotiations to end apartheid. The Internal Security Act's provisions for banning organizations were finally repealed by the Security Matters Rationalisation Act in 1996.

References

External links

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Unlawful Organisations Act
Apartheid laws in South Africa 1960 in South African law {{Statute-stub