The State of Emergency is declared in thirty six magisterial districts.

Updated: 30 Sep 2019

The increasing popular resistance and violent township protests amid the 1980s forced the South African government to declare a State of Emergency. On 20 July 1985, President P.W. Botha announced that violence in the country showed that "ordinary law and order was inadequate”.

How we know this

01Anon, (n.d.),‘State of Emergency in the mid-1980's’, from South Africa [online] Available at: overcomingapartheid.msu.edu, [Accessed: 15 June 2011]
02South African History Archives, 'A State of Emergency', [Online], Available at: www.saha.org.za, [Accessed: 23 July 2013]

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, July 19). The State of Emergency is declared in thirty six magisterial districts.. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0066336

South African History Online (2011) 'The State of Emergency is declared in thirty six magisterial districts.', South African History Online, 19 July. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0066336 (Accessed: 26 October 2026).

South African History Online, The State of Emergency is declared in thirty six magisterial districts. [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0066336, (accessed 26 October 2026).

"The State of Emergency is declared in thirty six magisterial districts.." South African History Online, 19 July 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0066336. Accessed 26 Oct. 2026.

South African History Online. "The State of Emergency is declared in thirty six magisterial districts.." South African History Online. July 19, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0066336.