List of people subject to banning orders under apartheid

This list of people subject to banning orders under apartheid lists a selection of people subject to a "banning order" by the apartheid-era South African government. Banning was a repressive and extrajudicial measure[1] used by the South African apartheid regime (1948–1994) against its political opponents.[2] The legislative authority for banning orders was firstly the Suppression of Communism Act, 1950,[3] which defined virtually all opposition to apartheid as "Communism", which was superseded by the Internal Security Act, 1982. The régime ceased to deploy bannings and lifted all remaining banning orders in 1990, in the run-up to the advent of democracy in South Africa in 1994.[2][4]

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 internal exile, suppression orders and censorship. 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

Steve Biko

Farouk Asvat

Ruth First

Albert Lutuli

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela

• John Aitchison: banned 1965–1970, 1971–1976.
• Phyllis Altman: Banned in 1964.[5]
• Jacqueline Arenstein: Banned in 1963, 1973 and 1978.[6]
• Farouk Asvat: banned 1973 to 1978:,,,;
• Mabel Balfour: Banned in 1963.[7]
• Saul Bastomsky: Banned in 1965, emigrated to UK, 1966 to Australia[8]
• Mary Benson: Banned in 1966.[9]
• Jean Bernadt: Banned 1959 to 1964.
• Hilda Bernstein: Banned 1953 and 1958.[10][11]
• Lionel Bernstein: Banned 1950 and 1953.[12]
• Steve Biko: Banned February 1973 to 1977 (killed in police custody).[13][14][15][16][17]
• Brian Brown: Banned 17 October 1977 for five years.[18]
• Peter Brown: Banned for 5 years July 1964, renewed for a further 5 years 1969.[19][20]
• Dennis Brutus: Banned for 5 years, October 1960.
• Neville Curtis (ex-president of NUSAS): Banned 27 February 1973; restrictions lifted 1976.[21][22]
• Yusuf Dadoo: Banned 1953 until exile and death in 1983.[23]
• Lionel Davis: Banned 1971 to 1976.
• Patrick Duncan: Banned 1961, 1962; went into exile 1962
• Bettie du Toit: Banned in 1952.[24]
• Paula Ensor (member of NUSAS): Banned 27 February 1973 to 31 March 1978. Left for Botswana clandestinely in 1976.[25][21][26][22]
• Vic Finkelstein: Banned for five years in 1967 and emigrated to the UK in 1968.[27]
• Ruth First: Banned 1960 to 1982 (killed in exile by police letter bomb).
• Ela Gandhi: 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: Banned in 1960.[28]
• Adelaine Hain: Banned in 1963.[29]
• Viola Hashe: Banned in 1963 until her death in 1977.[30]
• Ruth Hayman: Banned from 1966 to 1981 (died in exile).
• Sedick Isaacs: Banned from 1977 to 1984.[31][32]
• Helen Joseph: Banned four times, starting in 1957.
• Ronnie Kasrils: Banned 1962 to 1990.
• Clive Keegan (ex-vice-president of NUSAS): Banned 27 February 1973 for five years; left for Botswana clandestinely in 1976.[21][22]
• Bennie Khoapa: Banned 1973 to 1978; went into exile 1978.[33]
• Theo Kotze:[18] 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.[34][21][22]
• Philippe Le Roux (NUSAS member): Banned 27 February 1973 for five years. Left the country on an exit permit.[21][22]
• Petrus Willem Letlalo (founding member of the ANC): Banned 1960 to 1980, including under banning order number 1527.[35] Died at the age of 99, after a debilitating stroke in 1981.[36]
• Albert Lutuli: Banned 1952 to 1967.
• Winnie Madikizela-Mandela
• Elizabeth Mafekeng: Banned in 1959.[37]
• Mac Maharaj: Banned on release from prison in 1976; went into exile in 1977.[38]
• Trevor Manuel: Banned 1985 to 1986, banned again 1988.
• Joe Matthews: Banned in 1953; went into exile in 1960.[39]
• Cedric Mayson:[18] Banned 17 October 1977 for five years.
• Fatima Meer: Banned in 1952.
• Florence Mkhize: Banned in 1952.
• Mary Moodley: Banned in 1963.[40]
• Josie Mpama: Banned in 1955.[41]
• Shulamith Muller: Banned in 1962; went into exile in 1962 (died in exile in 1978).[42]
• Beyers Naudé: Banned 1977 to 1984.
• Rita Ndzanga: Banned in 1964.[43]
• J. B. Marks: Banned 1950 to 1972 (died in exile).
• Barney Pityana
• Paul Pretorius (NUSAS president):[21] Banned from 27 February 1973 for five years, but his restrictions were lifted in 1976.[22]
• 

  Ronnie Kasrils
  Mamphela Ramphele: Banned 1977 to 1984.
• Peter Ralph Randall: Banned 17 October 1977 for five years.
• Robert Resha:[44] Banned 1961 (died in exile in 1973).[45]
• Ian Robertson (NUSAS president): Banned 1966 to 1971.[46][47]
• Marius Schoon: Banned 1976 to 1990.
• Jeanette Schoon (née Curtis), former member of the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU), wife of Marius Schoon and sister of Neville Curtis: Banned 1976 for five years.[48] Murdered in exile in Angola by a letter bomb delivered by Craig Williamson, a spy for the security police, along with her six-year-old daughter.[49]
• Dulcie September: Banned 1969 to 1973 (assassinated outside the ANC's Paris office in 1988).
• Annie Silinga
• Walter Sisulu: Banned 1955 to 1990.
• Robert Sobukwe: Banned 1969 to 1978.
• Oliver Tambo: Banned 1959 to 1990.
• Rick Turner: Banned 27 February 1973, murdered 1978.[22]
• Chris Wood: Banned 27 February 1973. Left for Botswana clandestinely in 1976.[21][22]
• Dorothy Williams: Banned 1964 to 1969.[50]
• Donald Woods: Banned 1977 to 1990.

See also

• Banned persons law
• House arrest

References

1. Suppression of Communism Act, 1950, at South African History Online
2. Number of banned persons in South Africa totals 936, at South African History Online
3. Suppression of Communism, Act no. 44 of 1950, full text PDF
4. South Africa profile - Timeline - BBC News
5. Herbstein, Denis (24 September 1999). "Phyllis Altman". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
6. "Jacqueline (Jackie) Arenstein". South African History Online. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
7. Berger, Iris (1992). Threads of Solidarity: Women in South African Industry, 1900-1980. Indiana University Press. p. 267. ISBN 9780852550779.
8. Who was on the apartheid police spy list? | IOL
9. David Clover (16 December 2013). "No Easy Walk to Freedom: Nelson Mandela in the Archives". Senate House Library. Archived from the original on 22 October 2016. Retrieved 22 October 2016., p. 49
10. Hilda Bernstein, author, fighter for women's rights, Luthuli award winner - Profile
11. Hilda Bernstein obituary, The Independent (UK)
12. Treason trial to Rivonia - Rusty (Lionel) Bernstein
13. Steve Biko: Five facts you didn’t know about the anti-apartheid activist, at The Independent (UK)
14. Woods, Donald (1978). Biko. New York and London: Paddington Press. p. 49. ISBN 0-8050-1899-9.
15. Mangcu, Xolela (2014). Biko: A Life. London and New York: I. B. Tauris. p. 190. ISBN 978-1-78076-785-7.
16. Hadfield, Leslie (2010). "Biko, Black Consciousness, and 'the System' eZinyoka: Oral History and Black Consciousness in Practice in a Rural Ciskei Village". South African Historical Journal. 62 (1): 84. doi:10.1080/02582471003778342. S2CID 143822840.
17. Hill, Shannen L. (2015). Biko's Ghost: The Iconography of Black Consciousness. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. p. 151. ISBN 978-0816676361.
18. Cited in article on Peter Ralph Randall
19. Peter Brown at South African History Online
20. Peter Brown obituary, at The Independent (UK)
21. "Banning orders served on NUSAS leaders". www.sahistory.org.za. 16 March 2011.
22. South African Democracy Education Trust (2004). The Road to Democracy in South Africa: 1970-1980. Volume 2 of Road to Democracy. Unisa. p. 864. ISBN 9781868884063. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
23. "The Freedom Charter is adopted in Kliptown: Sunday, 26 June 1955". South African History Online. 22 June 2018. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
24. "Bettie du Toit". South African History Online. 29 June 2012. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
25. Paula Ensor, at South African History Online
26. Paul Ensor at Tshisimani Centre for Activist Education
27. Sutherland, Allan (16 December 2011). "Vic Finkelstein: Academic anddisability activist". The Independent. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
28. "ANC Veteran, Bertha Gxowa, Dies". SA News. 19 November 2010. Archived from the original on 23 September 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
29. "Anti-apartheid activist Adelaine Hain dies aged 92". IOL News. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
30. "Viola Hashe". South African History Online. 23 January 2013. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
31. "My heart goes through leaps and bounds". www.ihrc.org.uk. 19 October 2012.
32. "Sedick Isaacs". www.sahistory.org.za. 20 March 2012.
33. "Bennie Khoapa Khoapa". www.sahistory.org.za. 23 March 2012.
34. Sheila Lapinsky nee Barsel, at South African History Online
35. "South African Dept. of Justice list of banned persons" (PDF).
36. "1969 UN List of Opponents to Apartheid Subjected to Banning Orders in South Africa" (PDF).
37. "Food and Allied Workers Union". www.fawu.org.za.
38. "TRC testimony of Mac Maharaj". www.justice.gov.za. 2 November 1998. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
39. Vincent Joseph Gaobakwe Matthews | South African History Online
40. Human Sciences Research Council (2000). Women Marching Into the 21st Century: Wathint' abafazi, wathint' imbokodo. HSRC Press. pp. 33–34. ISBN 978-0796919663.
41. Edgar, Robert R. Josie Mpama/Palmer: Get Up and Get Moving. Athens, Ohio. ISBN 978-0-8214-4094-0. OCLC 1155989728.
42. "Shulamith Muller". South African History Online. 12 September 2011. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
43. Luckhardt; Wall. "Organize... or Starve! - The History of the SACTU". South African Congress of Trade Unions. South African History Online. Archived from the original on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
44. Meredith, Martin (1999). Nelson Mandela: A Biography. United States: Public Affairs Books.
45. Robert M. Resha | South African History Online
46. "NUSAS President Ian Robertson is banned". South African History Online.
47. "Kennedy and South Africa". The Harvard Crimson.
48. "Jeanette Eva Schoon (née Curtis)". South African History Online. 15 August 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
49. "Jeannette Schoon and her daughter are killed by a letter bomb". www.sahistory.org.za. 16 March 2011.
50. Williams, Clifford (5 May 2011). "Dorothy Williams obituary". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 3 January 2020.

Further reading

• People banned under apartheid (at South African History Online)