ABSTRACT
The continuous and seemingly uncontrollable violence throughout South Africa in the first half of the 1980s led the government to declare a state of emergency on 21 July 1985. The November regulations were lifted along with the overall state of emergency in March 1986. This respite was brief, though, for three months later President Botha announced another state of emergency, on 12 June 1986, applying to the entire country. More regulations were overturned in April, but the legal challenges again presented little difficulty to the government. Once more it closed the loopholes: on 11 June 1987, when it renewed the state of emergency. In one sense, the media regulations themselves provided only a limited impediment to Practicing rights. The government's power summarily to close one's paper certainly dramatically undercut one's ability to practice as a journalist. However, other emergency regulations constituted a graver threat to practicing rights.
