15 July 1976
The Minister of Justice, James Thomas (JT, Jimmy) Kruger, announced that the provisions of the Internal Security Act, allowing for the unlimited detention without trial of persons deemed to be threatening public order, would apply in the Transvaal Province with immediate effect for one year. The government amended the Internal Security Act in order to provide for what was termed 'preventive detention'. Theoretically, the detention was not meant to exceed twelve months. All public gatherings were banned and schools in Soweto and other areas of unrest were closed. The government was hoping that the closure of schools would put an end to the unrest, by denying students a place to meet and mount protests.
Source:
Kalley, J.A.; Schoeman, E. & Andor, L.E. (eds)(1999). Southern African Political History: a chronology of key political events from independence to mid-1997, Westport: Greenwood.
http://www.georgetown.edu/centers/peace/thesis/2004/kannan_meena.pdf
http://www.law.wits.ac.za/salc/discussn/chs1_5.pdf