South Africa Suspends Newspaper It Charges Promotes Revolution

The South African authorities Monday shut down South, a small anti-apartheid newspaper based in Cape Town, for one month, carrying out their vow to continue closing publications they believe promote revolution.

South, a year-old weekly newspaper with a circulation of 13,000, was the second publication in six weeks to be banned under sweeping emergency media regulations. The order was seen here as a further step toward silencing publications vociferously opposed to the white minority-led government.

New Nation, a weekly funded by the Roman Catholic Church, was banned March 22 for three months, and the Weekly Mail, one of the most influential liberal publications in the country, has been officially warned that the government is considering closing it for at least three months.

“South finds itself in the dock for allegedly promoting the ANC (the outlawed African National Congress), legitimizing violence, stirring up hatred against security forces and bringing the judicial system into disrepute,” the editors of South said in a special edition published Monday, in anticipation of the closure.

But, the editorial continued, “at the root of the problem is apartheid and exploitation. We did not create the situation. We are only reporting it. And it is this ugly truth that the government can’t stomach.”

So far, the Ministry of Home Affairs has warned seven publications that they may be closed or censored. All have said they would halt publishing rather than submit to censorship.

The Weekly Mail, a Johannesburg-based newspaper, mounted a far-reaching campaign to prevent its closure after being warned by the government that it was “causing a threat to public safety.”

Dozens of prominent editors in Europe signed an open letter to President Pieter W. Botha, urging him to allow the newspaper, which has a circulation of 19,000, to continue to publish.