South Africa: Apartheid-Era Crime of Incitement Declared Unconstitutional

30 November 2020

On Friday the Constitutional Court declared the crime of "incitement" under the Riotous Assemblies Act unconstitutional.

The Riotous Assemblies Act is a piece of "security" legislation that was passed in 1956 to suppress political opposition towards the apartheid government. One way the act tried to achieve this was to create the crime of "incitement". It was used to discourage civil disobedience. For example, Robert Sobukwe was convicted of incitement in 1960 for encouraging black people to disobey the pass laws.

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