Looking Back

From the Sunday Times 50 years ago

A WARNING to local authorities not to provide facilities for Africans which could be described as “too luxurious” was given by the Deputy Minister of Bantu Administration, Mr. Blaar Coetzee.

He said it was the Government’s policy to provide clinics, sports and entertainment and so on. “But when these facilities tend to cause the urban Bantu residential area to compete with the Bantu’s own homeland and to have the effect not only of making the Bantu accustomed to a foreign taste, but to enslave him to luxury which his homeland cannot afford . . . then it is time to revise our sense of values.” — April 2 1967

From the Sunday Times 25 years ago

FORGET the Barcelona Olympics — Bloemfontein is gearing up for another international competition. In Zola Budd’s home town the groundwork was laid this week for South Africa’s first entry into the World Sheep Shearing Championships. Yesterday farmers from all over the country congregated to crown the country’s top sheep shearers, who will pit themselves against the world’s best in Bath, England, from May 27 to 30. Visitors to the showgrounds were agog as sheep were relieved of their woollen coats in just 90 seconds. Only the best shearers were on show — the qualifiers from preliminary contests held in nine regional centres. — March 29 1992