On January 11, South Africa's minister of home affairs and of communications, Stoffel Botha, warned Work In Progress that an examination of the publication was underway in terms of state of emergency regulations. Over a year before, Botha had warned W/P that unless it ceased 'systematic publication of subversive propaganda', he would act against it. The January 11 warning involved possible closure of W/P for up to six months, or imposing a pre-publication censor - a state official with powers to censor the contents of the publication. Over the next weeks, enormous support was expressed for W/P and its publishing policy. This came from editors of mainstream newspapers, trade unions, political organisations, religious bodies and a host of oth...