Government bans 20 Black leaders

Date: 21 Oct 1973
Updated: 22 Jul 2026

In 1973 massive strikes occurred throughout South Africa, culminating in September 1973 at the Western Deep Levels mine at Carletonville, when 12 striking miners were killed as police fired on a crowd. Shortly afterwards it was reported that the South African government has banned twenty leaders of Black organisations, including the South African Students' Organisation (SASO), the Black People's Convention (BPC), the Black Community Programme (BCP), the Black Allied Workers' Union (BAWU) and the Black Workers' Project. Members of the South African Black Scholars' Association (SABSA) were interrogated security police.

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How we know this

01Kalley, 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.
02Reader's Digest. (1988). Illustrated History of South Africa: the real story, New York: Reader's Digest Association, p. 454.

Last updated · 22 Jul 2026

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 16). Government bans 20 Black leaders. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ss/ref/E-0012199

South African History Online (2011) 'Government bans 20 Black leaders', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ss/ref/E-0012199 (Accessed: 27 July 2026).

South African History Online, Government bans 20 Black leaders [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ss/ref/E-0012199, (accessed 27 July 2026).

"Government bans 20 Black leaders." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ss/ref/E-0012199. Accessed 27 July 2026.

South African History Online. "Government bans 20 Black leaders." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ss/ref/E-0012199.