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Johannes A. Smit
• Natives (Prohibition of Interdicts) Act (No 64 of 1956);
• Riotous Assemblies Act (No 17 of 1956) – prohibiting open-air
gatherings if regarded as endangering public peace;
• Unlawful Organisations Act (No 34 of 1960) – under which the PAC
and ANC were banned/ declared unlawful;
• General Law Amendment Act (No 39 of 1961) – provided for twelve
day detention;
• Indemnity Act (No 61 of 1961) – absolving all government officials
for acts committed or orders issued ‘in good faith for the prevention
or suppression of internal disorder, the maintenance or restoration of
good order, public safety or essential services, or the preservation of
life or property in any part of the Republic’.
• General Law Amendment Act (Sabotage Act) (No 76 of 1962) –
which gave the State President added powers for declaring
organisations unlawful;
• Terrorism Act (No 83 of 1962) – following a broad definition of
terrorism, the act that authorised indefinite detention without trial;
• General Law Amendment Act (No 37 of 1963) – which allowed for
commissioned officers to detain any suspect of political crime, for up
to ninety days (which could be extended for another twelve months);
• General Law Amendment Act (No 80 of 1964) – which allowed for
even lengthier extensions of detention without trail, and which saw
Robert Sobukwe only released in 1969 under this act;
• The Criminal Procedure Amendment Act No 96 (180-Day Detention
Law) of 1965 – which provided for 180-day detention and redetention
thereafter without any trial.
• The General Law Amendment Act (No 62 of 1966) – in response to
guerrila events on the northern border to South West Africa, but
aimed at detention of suspected terrorists – which would lead to the
1967 Terrorism Act which was introduced on 4 November 1966.
• Suppression of Communism Act (No 24 of 1967);
• The Prohibition of Political Interference Act (No 51 of 1968) –
which legislated against the formation of non-racial political parties;
and
• The Public Service Amendment Act No 86 of 1969 – which legis-
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