A banning order entailed restrictions on where the banned person could live and who they could have contact with, required that they report weekly to a police station, and proscribed them from travelling outside a specific magisterial district. The banned person was prohibited from attending meetings of any kind, speaking in public, or publishing or distributing any written material. It proscribed broadcasters and the press from broadcasting, publishing or reporting the banned person's words. It thus mixed elements of exile, suppression orders and censorship. The prohibition on attending meetings meant that the banned person could not be with more than one other person at a time. The banned person was forbidden all contact with other banned persons and was forbidden to engage in any political activity. The penalty for violating a banning order was up to five years in prison.
Some people subject to banning orders
Summarize
Perspective
Over 1600 people have been subjected to banning orders.[5] Prominent among these are:
Paula Ensor (member of NUSAS): Banned 27 February 1973 to 31 March 1978. Left for Botswana clandestinely in 1976.[25][dead link][21][26][dead link][22]
Vic Finkelstein: Banned for five years in 1967 and emigrated to the UK in 1968.[27]
Ruth First: Banned 1960 to 1982 (killed in exile by police letter bomb).
Theo Kotze:[19] Banned 17 October 1977 for five years.
Sheila Barsel Lapinsky (general secretary of NUSAS): Banned 27 February 1973 to 31 March 1978. The only one of the group of NUSAS members banned on that date to serve her time in the country.[34][dead link][21][22]
Philippe Le Roux (NUSAS member): Banned 27 February 1973 for five years. Left the country on an exit permit.[21][22]
Petrus Willem Letlalo (founding member of the ANC): Banned 1960 to 1980, including under banning order number 1527.[36] Died at the age of 99, after a debilitating stroke in 1981.[37]
