S. Africa High Court Rejects Curb on Press
The Supreme Court today struck down a nationwide state-of-emergency regulation prohibiting news reports on the outlawed African National Congress.
Judge H. J. Daniels, ruling on an application by the nation’s two largest newspaper groups, left in place restrictions on publishing reports which could encourage support for the ANC and other outlawed organizations.
“I am of the opinion that the regulations were intended to be used to impose censorship on the media,” Daniels said.
The judge said Police Commissioner Gen. Johan Coetzee invoked emergency regulations nationwide curbing news reports on the guerrilla group when he was empowered only to impose them regionally.
The Argus and South African Associated Newspapers publishing companies challenged the Jan. 8 censorship rulings that made it illegal to publish anything positive about the ANC, which marked its 75th anniversary that day.
The ruling came after 22 Argus and South African Associated Newspapers carried anniversary advertisements calling for legalization of the ANC, which is fighting a guerrilla war to overthrow the white minority government.
The ANC went into exile to Lusaka, Zambia, in 1960, and its leader, Nelson Mandela, was jailed for life in 1964 after being convicted of sabotage. He is still in jail.
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