The Minister of Cooperation and Development, Dr. Piet Koornhof, announces the lifting of the ‘72-hour curfew’

Date: 6 Feb 1980
Updated: 30 Sep 2019

The Minister of Cooperation and Development, Dr. Piet Koornhof, announces the lifting of the ‘72-hour curfew’

The Minister of Cooperation and Development, Dr. Piet Koornhof, announced that the '72-hour curfew' will be lifted on a trial basis in Pretoria and Bloemfontein, as part of a plan to remove all restrictions. The ‘72-hour curfew’ imposed on visiting blacks was one of the most hated apartheid laws. This curfew formed an integral part of influx-control regulations that restricted black people’s movement. In his statement he said that the curfew requiring blacks to have a permit to stay more than 72 hours in an urban area would be dropped in Pretoria and Bloemfontein as an experiment.

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How we know this

01Walker R. (1980) ‘2 S. African cities to try dropping a black curfew’, from The Christian Science Monitor, 8 February, [online], available at www.csmonitor.com (Accessed: 07 January 2013)
02O’Malley, P.‘1980’, from Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory and Dialog, [online], available at www.nelsonmandela.org

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2013, January 30). The Minister of Cooperation and Development, Dr. Piet Koornhof, announces the lifting of the ‘72-hour curfew’ . South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0094740

South African History Online (2013) 'The Minister of Cooperation and Development, Dr. Piet Koornhof, announces the lifting of the ‘72-hour curfew’ ', South African History Online, 30 January. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0094740 (Accessed: 27 July 2026).

South African History Online, The Minister of Cooperation and Development, Dr. Piet Koornhof, announces the lifting of the ‘72-hour curfew’ [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0094740, (accessed 27 July 2026).

"The Minister of Cooperation and Development, Dr. Piet Koornhof, announces the lifting of the ‘72-hour curfew’ ." South African History Online, 30 Jan. 2013, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0094740. Accessed 27 July 2026.

South African History Online. "The Minister of Cooperation and Development, Dr. Piet Koornhof, announces the lifting of the ‘72-hour curfew’ ." South African History Online. January 30, 2013. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0094740.