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states of emergency

Explanation
A state of emergency was declared on 20 July 1985 in terms of Section 2(1) of the Public Safety Act of 1953. It affected 36 magisterial districts in the Cape, Transvaal and the Orange Free State, and was extended to eight other areas on 26 October 1985. It was lifted on 7 March 1986 and re-imposed again on 12 June 1986, this time applying to the whole of the country. The state of emergency was re-imposed in June every year until the April 1994 elections.

Successive states of emergency created an environment where secret units of the security forces flourished. Units like the shady Civil Cooperation Bureau and the police death squads at Vlakplaas were formed.
documents ordinary people like me understand very easily that the council did order murders and assassinations. Like this one of 24 January 1987. It states clearly: ”Identify and eliminate the revolutionary leaders and especially those with charisma.” // Then of course, we hear from generals ...
... of ‘uhuru’ in the rest of colonial Africa. By the mid-sixties many African countries had cast off the colonialist yoke and became independent states. // The PAC organised a massive protest against the pass laws on 21 March 1960. In Sharpeville police killed 69 demonstrators. // This event ...
... me in my head. I don’t know how I can help this. // Dennis Neer, a Port Elizabeth trade unionist was also a victim of the wild days of the states of emergency. // Something was going to happen, because somebody came to the front, held me, at my shoulders and then tried to kick my private ...
By the end of the eighties bannings, press restrictions and states of emergency had certainly taken their toll. In 1989 mass anger turned into spontaneous revolt. The Defiance Campaign, aimed at ending apartheid for good, hit back. Jaunine Otto was killed in Kalksteenfontein in September 1989.
... the vast majority of reported murders, disappearances, and torture cases happened during the dark decade of the eighties, especially after the states of emergency. One figure dominated this period, the architect of total onslaught, Pieter Willem Botha. Botha also dominated much of the ...
 
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