Unlawful Organizations Act, 1960

Unlawful Organizations Act, 1960
Parliament of South Africa
Long title Act to empower the Governor-General, with a view to the safety of the public or the maintenance of public order, by proclamation in the Gazette to declare the Pan Africanist Congress and the African National Congress and certain other organizations to be unlawful organizations, to amend the Riotous Assemblies Act, 1956, and to provide for other incidental matters.
Citation	Act No. 34 of 1960
Enacted by	Parliament of South Africa
Royal assent	7 April 1960
Commenced	7 April 1960
Repealed	2 July 1982
Administered by	Minister of Justice
Repealed by
Internal Security Act, 1982
Related legislation
Suppression of Communism Act, 1950
Status: Repealed

The Unlawful Organizations Act No 34 of 1960 (commenced 7 April 1960) allowed the apartheid government of South Africa to declare unlawful any organizations deemed to threaten public order or the safety of the public. This legislation was enacted within a few weeks of 1960's Sharpeville Massacre. The African National Congress (ANC) and Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) were immediately declared unlawful. Nelson Mandela recorded in his autobiography, "We were now, all of us, outlaws".^[1] The Indemnity Act that followed legislatively indemnified supporters of the apartheid regime from any wrongdoing connected to the massacre.