The War On News

A record of government actions against journalism and fact-based reporting, from the first press laws to today

Incident

South Africa's Suppression of Communism Act lets the government ban publications and restrict individuals

South AfricaRSF 2026 rank: 21st of 180

Engraving of an empty press briefing room with a lectern and rows of chairs

Under Prime Minister Daniel François Malan, South Africa's parliament approved the Suppression of Communism Act in 1950, defining communism broadly enough to cover most opposition to apartheid. It let the government ban organizations and publications and forbid banned individuals from being quoted at all.123

What happened

South Africa's parliament, under the National Party government of Prime Minister Daniel François Malan, approved the Suppression of Communism Act, which commenced on July 17, 1950, two years after the party came to power on its apartheid platform. The law defined communism so broadly that it covered almost any opposition to the government's racial policies, not only formal Communist Party activity. It empowered the government to detain and to ban individuals and organizations it judged likely to further communism as the act defined it, and made it a criminal offense to publish, print or in any way distribute anything said or written by a banned person, effectively erasing them from public print entirely. The Communist Party of South Africa itself dissolved days after the law's approval rather than operate under it. Over the following four decades, more than 2,000 people were subjected to banning orders under the act and its successors before the last such bans were lifted in February 1990.1234

What reason was given

Stated justification

The government said the act was needed to suppress communism, which the law itself defined broadly enough to include any activity aimed at bringing about political, industrial, social or economic change through means the Act deemed banned, or disorder, covering most organized opposition to apartheid.2

What changed for reporting

Newspapers and other publications could not legally publish anything said or written by a person the government had banned, suppressing banned anti-apartheid activists and writers in the South African press entirely for as long as their bans lasted.3

Timeline

1950

17 July 1950
South Africa's Suppression of Communism Act lets the government ban publications and restrict individuals

Who acted

NameRole in this incidentOffice at the time
Daniel François MalanannouncedPrime Minister of South Africa

Sources

  1. Suppression of Communism Act 44 of 1950 severely limits what the media could report archived copySouth African History Online, reporting. Source record
  2. Suppression of Communism ActEncyclopaedia Britannica, reporting. Source record
  3. 1991 (Chronology, O'Malley Archive)Nelson Mandela Foundation / O'Malley Archives, 1991, reporting. Source record
  4. Chronology of Apartheid Legislation (TRC Final Report, Vol. 1, Ch. 13)South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission / SAHA, 1998, reporting. Source record

Claims and evidence

Each numbered claim quotes the source it rests on.

  1. The Suppression of Communism Act was one of the most infamous of all security laws during the apartheid era, and it severely limited what the media could report.One of the most infamous of all security laws during the apartheid era, it severely limited what the media could reportSuppression of Communism Act 44 of 1950 severely limits what the media could report archived copy, South African History Online.Claim 174, checked 2026-09-22.
  2. The act defined communism and its aims broadly enough to include any opposition to the government.defined communism and its aims broadly to include any opposition to the governmentSuppression of Communism Act, Encyclopaedia Britannica.Claim 175, checked 2026-09-22.
  3. People the government banned under the act could not be quoted in publications at all.could not be quoted in publicationsSuppression of Communism Act, Encyclopaedia Britannica.Claim 176, checked 2026-09-22.
  4. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's chronology of apartheid legislation states the Suppression of Communism Act (No. 44 of 1950) commenced on July 17, 1950.1950 Internal Security Act (Suppression of Communism Act) No 44: ... Commenced: 17 July 1950Chronology of Apartheid Legislation (TRC Final Report, Vol. 1, Ch. 13), South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission / SAHA, 1998.Claim 730, checked 2026-09-22.