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Apartheid
From 1948-1990, one word was crossing everyone's mind in Southern Africa, being "apartness". Apartheid, also known as "apartness", means that a government wants the right to be self governed. -
Suppression of Communism Act
The Act, which came into effect on 17 July 1950,[1] defined communism as any scheme aimed at achieving change—whether economic, social, political, or industrial—"by the promotion of disturbance or disorder" or any act encouraging "feelings of hostility between the European and the non-European races [...] calculated to further [disorder]". -
Public Safety Act
The Act included a provision that empowered the government to declare a state of emergency in any or every part of the country (South West Africa included) and to rule by proclamation. Under Section 3, this power was granted to the Governor General (and later, the State President), and it effectively put no limits on what measures might be taken, or for how long. -
Riotous Assemblies Act
This Act was passed in response to the Congress of the People, held at Kliptown, near Johannesburg, in June 1955.[1] Following a call from the African National Congress (ANC), the South African Indian Congress, the South African Coloured People's Congress, the South African Congress of Democrats, and the South African Congress of Trade Unions, some 3,000 people met with the purpose of adopting the Freedom Charter. -
Unlawful Organizations Act
The Unlawful Organizations Act No 34 of 1960 (commenced 7 April 1960) allowed the apartheid government of South Africa to declare unlawful any organizations deemed to threaten public order or the safety of the public. This legislation was enacted within a few weeks of 1960's Sharpeville Massacre. The African National Congress (ANC) and Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) were immediately declared unlawful, and the Indemnity Act that followed legislatively indemnified supporters -
Indemnity Act
The Indemnity Act 61 of 1961 was a law enacted by the apartheid government in South Africa, which protected the government from any legal repercussions of the Sharpeville massacre and other violent events that followed. It prevented the courts from hearing any criminal charges or civil claims against the government, its leaders or its employees for actions taken between 21 March 1960 and 5 July 1961. -
General Law Amendment Act
The General Law Amendment Act, number 37 of 1963 (commenced 2 May), commonly known as the 90-Day Detention Law,[1] allowed a South African police officer to detain without warrant a person suspected of a politically motivated crime for up to 90 days without access to a lawyer. When used in practice, suspects were re-detained for another 90-day period immediately after release. -
Terrorism Act
The Terrorism Act No 83 of 1967 was a law of the South African Apartheid regime until all except section 7 was repealed under the Internal Security and Intimidation Amendment Act 138 of 1991. -
Indemnity Act
The Indemnity Act no. 13 of 1977 (Commencement 16 March) of South Africa was enacted following the suppression of the violence by the South African Police and apartheid supporters during the Soweto uprising on 16 June 1976.[1] This uprising was by the black youths of Soweto protesting against the forced Afrikaans medium decree in schools. -
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The Iranian Revolution / Islamic Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. It led to the replacement of the Imperial State of Iran by the present-day Islamic Republic of Iran, as the monarchical government of Mohammed Reza Pahlavi was superseded by the theocratic government of Ruhollah Khomeini, a religious cleric who had headed one of the rebel factions. The ouster of Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, formally marked the end of Iran's historical monarchy. -
Internal Security Act
The Internal Security Act, 1982 (Act No. 74 of 1982) was an act of the Parliament of South Africa that consolidated and replaced various earlier pieces of security legislation, including the Suppression of Communism Act, 1950, parts of the Riotous Assemblies Act, 1956, the Unlawful Organizations Act, 1960 and the Terrorism Act, 1967.[1] It gave the apartheid government broad powers to ban or restrict organisations, publications, people and public gatherings, and to detain people without trial.