# Ladder: access bans, in Africa

A government or official bars a reporter or a news organisation from places or events where news is gathered: briefings, government buildings, press pools, official trips or court hearings. The ban may be announced, or made by refusing entry without notice. It does not stop publication, but it cuts reporters off from officials and from events that other outlets can still cover.

The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.

Narrow with ?stage= (restrict, pressure, punish, silence, eliminate), ?continent=, ?from= and ?to= (year or date).

## Silence

Removing outlets or channels from the public sphere: closures, licence withdrawals, forced sales, blocking and shutdowns, prior restraint, nationalisation.

| Date | Country | Head of government | What was done | Outcome | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2 November 1985 | [South Africa](https://thewaronnews.com/countries/za) ([RSF 2026 rank: 21st of 180](https://rsf.org/en/index)) | [P. W. Botha](https://thewaronnews.com/leaders/p-w-botha) | Under a state of emergency State President P. W. Botha had declared in July 1985, the government banned television, radio and photographic coverage of unrest in South Africa's Black townships on November 2, 1985, requiring print journalists to report only under police escort. [Full entry](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1985-south-africa-state-of-emergency-media-ban) | Reversed (1 June 1990) | 1 |
| 29 October 2025 | [Tanzania](https://thewaronnews.com/countries/tz) ([RSF 2026 rank: 117th of 180](https://rsf.org/en/index)) | [Samia Suluhu Hassan](https://thewaronnews.com/leaders/samia-suluhu-hassan) | Tanzania's government restricted internet and social-media access on October 29, 2025, as citizens voted in a general election marked by protests, cutting national internet traffic by nearly 90 percent and leaving both local and foreign journalists unable to report on the vote and its aftermath in… [Full entry](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-tanzania-internet-shutdown-election-day) | Unknown | 2 |

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