Opinion and Expression

The South African Publications Control Board consists of nine persons (all of them white) appointed and paid by the Government. One of the functions of the Board is to prevent the showing of any film which depicts white and non-white children sharing the same classroom or white and non-white adults dancing with one another or white and non-white men and women embracing and kissing one another.

Another function of the South African Publications Control Board is to prevent the showing of any educational documentary film which expresses approval of racial integration or disapproval of discrimination based on race and colour.

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It is a criminal offence for a newspaper to publish an article which is held by the court to have harmed relations between whites and Africans because it used strong language to assert that apartheid is unjust to the African people.

The South African Publications Control Board may, by notice in the Government Gazette prohibit the importation into South Africa of all books (other than those for which it chooses to issue a special permit) published by a specified publisher, if it is of the opinion that such books are likely to create the impression that apartheid is unjust to the non-white people of South Africa.

If an African has received a letter from another African asking him to join in a peaceful demonstration against unjust apartheid laws, his premises may be searched at any time on a warrant issued by a magistrate for evidence that an offence has been committed.

If such letter was typed, the typewriter may be seized and delivered to a magistrate who may order that it be destroyed.

Any African born outside South Africa (even though he has lived in South Africa for 50 years and has not committed an offence) may be declared to be an undesirable inhabitant.

An African who writes "Down with Apartheid" on the wall of the house of any person, is guilty of a criminal offence.

If one issue of a weekly magazine published in South Africa has been held to be undesirable, and the Publications Control Board is of the opinion that every subsequent issue is likely to be undesirable, all future issues of the magazine may be prohibited as undesirable, by notice in the Government Gazette.