Word: erasmus
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...troublesome Pan-African Congress, which had fomented the recent unrest, and the larger African National Congress-the only two groups that can speak for the nation's 9,750,000 Africans. "They want to bring the white government to its knees," cried Minister of Justice François Erasmus before Parliament. "The government has decided to bring a halt to the reign of terror." Next day Verwoerd went a step further, declared a state of emergency in all the major population centers of the nation. It gave the government power to censor the press, close or take over...
...arrest them for failure to carry-the hated passbooks. It represented the first major retreat by the government since the Nationalists won power at the polls twelve years ago. But just when everyone was about to credit Verwoerd's administration with coming to its senses, Defense Minister Francois Erasmus said that the police decision was "strictly temporary" until the "situation quieted." South Africa's course was still set for disaster...