Throughout the year the regime has imposed broad bans on gatherings, supplementing orders issued by local magistrates, in an effort to prevent people expressing opposition or organising resistance to apartheid.
In March an annual ban on indoor gatherings advocating education boycotts was introduced when the annual ban on all outdoor meetings excluding sports gatherings was renewed. One week later the Minister of Law and Order announced a three-month ban in 18 districts on meetings to discuss stayaways and all meetings of 29 organisations. The ban was extended in June to cover the rest of the year and to include a total of 30 districts and 64 organisations. Most of the districts are in the Transvaal and Eastern Cape.
In these circumstances the funerals of people killed while protesting against the regime have become principal forums for expressing solidarity and resistance. Accordingly, in July the Commissioner of Police, Johannes Coetzee, used the new emergency regulations to impose a series of restrictions on funerals of those killed during protests: they may not be held outdoors; only a minister of religion may deliver a speech and may not 'defend, attack, criticise, propagate or discuss any form of government, any principle or policy of a government of a state, any boycott action, the existence of a state of emergency or any action by a Force or a member of a Force'; those attending must travel in vehicles on a route prescribed by the police; flags, banners, placards and pamphlets may not be displayed or distributed; loudspeakers are prohibited; and a funeral may not serve for the burial of more than one person.
It was reported in August that a mass funeral had been held in Zwide, near Port Elizabeth in defiance of the restrictions, with banners displayed and slogans chanted.
Police commissioners used new powers under Section 6 of the emergency regulations to impose other bans. All gatherings to celebrate Nelson Mandela's birthday in July were banned in six areas on the Rand, and in August a ban was announced in 18 Transvaal districts on meetings to commemorate the start of the Vaal uprisings in September 1984.
Magistrates in areas not included in the State of Emergency have continued to impose restrictions on gatherings in terms of the Internal Security Act, mainly on funerals. In September all funerals of Africans in the East London Magisterial District in the Eastern Cape were for a month subjected to restrictions almost identical to those in effect in the emergency districts, with their attendance limited to 100 people. Funerals in Queenstown were also restricted for a month.
The annual ban on meetings was extended in September to include meetings promoting work stoppages.
