The Transkei Undesirable Organisations Act (No 9 of 1978) came into operation on 19 May 1978. It empowers the Transkei authorities to declare 'undesirable', that is, illegal, any organisation which is deemed to be prejudicial to the interests of the state (i.e. Transkei) through its policies or activities or 'association or connection with any undesirable organisation outside Transkei'.
This legislation enables the Transkei authorities to ban outlawed organisations such as the ANC and PAC. While it is unlikely that such organisations would consider attempting to set up operational bases in the Transkei, there have been speculative press reports that this would be permitted by the Transkei authorities, to demonstrate their 'political independence' from South Africa. Both organisations are resolutely opposed to the Bantustan policies.
Recently the Transkei authorities banished twenty-seven former PAC political prisoners to remote areas on their release from jail (see FOCUS 17 p.5). Among these are believed to be those sentenced to 15 years imprisonment in 1963 for conspiracy to attack teachers at Hebron Training School and conspiracy to attack Chief Matanzima, currently Transkei's 'President-elect'.
