{
  "title": "Search in Africa, stage: silence, outcome reversed",
  "canonical_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/search?continent=africa&stage=silence&outcome=reversed",
  "filters": {
    "continent": "africa",
    "stage": "silence",
    "outcome": "reversed"
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  "count": 3,
  "page": 1,
  "pages": 1,
  "per_page": 50,
  "counts_caveat": "The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.",
  "facets": {
    "country": [
      {
        "value": "ZA",
        "label": "South Africa",
        "rsf": {
          "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
          "year": 2026,
          "rank": 21,
          "of": 180,
          "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 21st of 180",
          "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
        }
      },
      {
        "value": "ZW",
        "label": "Zimbabwe",
        "rsf": {
          "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
          "year": 2026,
          "rank": 124,
          "of": 180,
          "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 124th of 180",
          "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
        }
      }
    ],
    "continent": [
      {
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        "label": "Africa"
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    ],
    "tactic": [
      {
        "value": "outlet_licensing",
        "label": "Licensing and closure of outlets",
        "count": 2
      },
      {
        "value": "access_ban",
        "label": "Access bans",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "shutdowns_and_blocking",
        "label": "Shutdowns and blocking",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "detention_and_violence",
        "label": "Detention and violence",
        "count": 1
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      {
        "value": "prior_restraint",
        "label": "Prior restraint",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "stage": [
      {
        "value": "silence",
        "label": "Silence",
        "count": 3
      }
    ],
    "level": [
      {
        "value": "national",
        "label": "National",
        "count": 3
      }
    ],
    "outcome": [
      {
        "value": "reversed",
        "label": "Reversed",
        "count": 3
      }
    ],
    "leader": [
      {
        "value": "daniel-francois-malan",
        "label": "Daniel François Malan"
      },
      {
        "value": "p-w-botha",
        "label": "P. W. Botha"
      },
      {
        "value": "robert-mugabe",
        "label": "Robert Mugabe"
      }
    ],
    "era": [
      {
        "value": "2000s",
        "label": "2000s",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "1980s",
        "label": "1980s",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "1950s",
        "label": "1950s",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "year": [
      {
        "value": "1950",
        "label": "1950",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "1985",
        "label": "1985",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "2003",
        "label": "2003",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "has_case": [
      {
        "value": "0",
        "label": "without a court case",
        "count": 3
      }
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  "results": [
    {
      "slug": "2003-zimbabwe-daily-news-shut-down",
      "title": "Zimbabwe: police close the Daily News under the media registration law",
      "occurred_on": "2003-09-12",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "ZW",
      "country_name": "Zimbabwe",
      "continent": "africa",
      "jurisdiction": "ZW",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "outlet_licensing",
      "tactics": [
        "outlet_licensing"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "robert-mugabe",
      "leader_name": "Robert Mugabe",
      "issue_of_the_day": "The closure came amid a wider campaign by President Robert Mugabe's government against independent media following the contested 2002 presidential election.",
      "outcome": "reversed",
      "outcome_on": "2010-05-27",
      "outcome_note": "Zimbabwe's Media Commission granted the Daily News a new publishing license on May 27, 2010, nearly seven years after the closure.",
      "stage": "silence",
      "ladder_note": "The country's largest independent newspaper was shut by police and kept off newsstands for nearly seven years, not a temporary suspension or fine.",
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 124,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 124th of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "2000s",
      "granularity": "granular",
      "status": "historical",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "Zimbabwe's Supreme Court ruled the Daily News, the country's largest independent newspaper, was operating unregistered under a 2002 media law, and police shut its offices the next day; the paper stayed closed for nearly seven years.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2003-zimbabwe-daily-news-shut-down"
    },
    {
      "slug": "1985-south-africa-state-of-emergency-media-ban",
      "title": "South Africa bans television and photographic coverage of unrest under a state of emergency",
      "occurred_on": "1985-11-02",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "ZA",
      "country_name": "South Africa",
      "continent": "africa",
      "jurisdiction": "ZA",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "shutdowns_and_blocking",
      "tactics": [
        "access_ban",
        "shutdowns_and_blocking"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "p-w-botha",
      "leader_name": "P. W. Botha",
      "issue_of_the_day": "Unrest against apartheid had spread through South Africa's Black townships through 1985, and the government's emergency regulations applied to the television and photographic coverage that had brought international attention to the violence.",
      "outcome": "reversed",
      "outcome_on": "1990-06-01",
      "outcome_note": "South Africa's state of emergency and its media restrictions ended in June 1990 as State President F. W. de Klerk began dismantling apartheid.",
      "stage": "silence",
      "ladder_note": null,
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 21,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 21st of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "1980s",
      "granularity": "anchor",
      "status": "historical",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "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.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1985-south-africa-state-of-emergency-media-ban"
    },
    {
      "slug": "1950-south-africa-suppression-of-communism-act",
      "title": "South Africa's Suppression of Communism Act lets the government ban publications and restrict individuals",
      "occurred_on": "1950-07-17",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "ZA",
      "country_name": "South Africa",
      "continent": "africa",
      "jurisdiction": "ZA",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "prior_restraint",
      "tactics": [
        "detention_and_violence",
        "outlet_licensing",
        "prior_restraint"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "daniel-francois-malan",
      "leader_name": "Daniel François Malan",
      "issue_of_the_day": "South Africa's National Party government, elected in 1948 on a platform of apartheid racial segregation, used the act to suppress the Communist Party of South Africa and, more broadly, organized political opposition to its policies.",
      "outcome": "reversed",
      "outcome_on": "1991-07-31",
      "outcome_note": "The \"Internal Security and Intimidation Amendment Act\" repealed section 55 of the Suppression of Communism Act, which had prohibited furthering the aims of communism, on July 31, 1991; broader banning orders under the act and its successors had already been lifted the year before, in February 1990.{c:731}",
      "stage": "silence",
      "ladder_note": null,
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 21,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 21st of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "1950s",
      "granularity": "anchor",
      "status": "historical",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "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.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1950-south-africa-suppression-of-communism-act"
    }
  ],
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    "name": "CC BY 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
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}