[4] The opposition in the House of Assembly protested certain functions of the act, such as the possibility to ban individuals purposedly advocating communist goals, circumventing the normal rule of law guarantees in the South African legal system.

The government responded by watering down the act, explicitly outlining the right to due process before penalties (i.e. fines or imprisonment) were executed, requiring the Minister of Justice to submit requests to ban to a three-member committee, affording the right to redress by those issued a banning order, as well as exempting labour unions from the sanctions included in the act.

Justice Frans Rumpff, presiding in the 1952 trial of African National Congress (ANC) leaders, observed that such an offence might have "nothing to do with communism as it is commonly known.

"[6] The Act facilitated the government suppression of organisations such as the ANC and others which advocated for equal rights for blacks, coloureds and Indians.

Because of this Act, groups such as uMkhonto we Sizwe, led by Nelson Mandela as a branch of the ANC, did seek financial support from the Communist Party.