Censorship in South Africa

The South African government, harassed by taut racial tensions, is as sensitive as a naked nerve to everything that affects South Africa, including what its people read. The Malan government has clamped a constantly tightening censorship on imported publications.

Its chief censor is Interior Minister Theophilus Ebenhaezar Doenges, son of a Dutch Reformed clergyman. By law, he can ban anything he considers "indecent, obscene or. . . objectionable," and no court can overrule him. While his government is conducting an official inquiry into the policies of its own press and ceaselessly sniping at foreign correspondents who report from South Africa, Doenges has cut off more & more books and magazines that come from outside.

He considers "objectionable" such publications for Negroes as Chicago's Ebony, those that show whites and Negroes mingling, Communist publications and any which sensationalize crime.

By last week, Censor Doenges had banned 260 publications, 133 of them from the U.S. Most were comics, pulps, detective chillers. But on his "B" list of "suspect" magazines, liable to banning, were many general U.S. magazines. Latest to feel the sting of Doenges' whip were bookstores. A fortnight ago, he ordered that all imported books be kept unopened in specially sealed bags until customs men could inspect them for "contraband" literature. In Johannesburg, there was a single customs man to cover 25 booksellers. Harried by clamoring customers, their stores crammed with unopened parcels, the booksellers cried for "relaxation." Last week they got it. The government told the stores "you may receive your book parcels as freely" as before, but added an ominous note: "The department reserves the right to hold back an occasional parcel. . . for examination."

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