From the mid 1980s South Africa was faced with increasing popular resistance and violent township protests, which led the government to declare a State of Emergency. On 20 July 1985, Botha announced that violence in the country showed that "ordinary law and order was inadequate". He declared a State of Emergency in thirty-six magisterial districts". Areas affected were the Eastern Cape, and the Pretoria Witwatersrand Vereeniging (PWV) region, and three months later the Western Cape. During the State of Emergency and within a month about 2, 436 people were detained under the Internal Security Act.

The state of emergency gave more powers to the police, the military, and the president. The government could implement curfews controlling the movement of all people and prevent the media from covering any unrests or entering an area declared an unrest area. The state of emergency also gave the president the power to rule by decree without the constraints of the constitution or parliament.

The Second State of Emergency

Four days before the commemoration of the Soweto uprising another State of Emergency was declared on 12 June 1986 to cover the whole country. The government amended the public security act to expand its powers to include the right to declare certain places unrest areas. After 12 June the press was not allowed to print any incidences relating to political unrest. By December eleven newspapers were prohibited from printing non-governmental accounts of the police or the army activities, this went on to cover boycotts and any information relating to civil unrest and detentions. The government censorship of the press monitored publication of any information related to 'unrest activities'. Despite the government's continued claims that the media in South Africa was free, the independent media in South Africa was forbidden by law not to report on the state of Emergency in the country. The state owned the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) that served to provide daily propaganda in support of the Government measures. This situation led to a growth of progressive publications in what became known as the alternative press in response to the blanket on information. These organisations received financial support from sympathetic sources overseas. In this way, despite government crackdown on media reporting people were kept informed of human rights abuses related to the state of emergency.

The South African alternative press in the 1980s served an important role to undermine the apartheid regime's propaganda campaign. Every act of censorship to limit and crush this free media was responded to with greater creativity. Some newspapers, especially the Weekly Mail now the Mail and Guardian, responded by publishing newspapers without news (blank pages) making public the pressure being placed on it and at the same time demonstrating it attitude to the interference. The Weekly Mail came into existence in the mid 1980s when resistance newspapers like Grassroots, The New Nation, South and New African were forced to close down by the government.

Click here to read an article about press restrictions in South Africa.

Click here to read about the Minister in the Presidency's view on the state of the media in South Africa.

Click here to browse and read some of South Africa's alternative media during apartheid

Click here to to go to the DISA web page which is an excellent though slow to load site with articles and journals from the alternative media.

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Grade 12 Classroom lesson: http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/classroom/pages/projects/grade12/lesson18/07-first-state-emergency.htm