LOOKING BACK

FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES 50 YEARS AGO

White residents in Rondebosch, Cape, are looking forward to the arrival this month of Mr. Joe Kachingwe, a Malawi diplomat, who will be the first African envoy to be received in South Africa. The White residents are not excited, alarmed or agitated about their new neighbour, and are in fact prepared to be friendly and co-operative. Mr. Kachingwe will be accompanied by his wife and their two children. They will be the first Africans to set up house in a White suburb with the Government’s approval. However, the driveway of the house has been sealed off by a concrete wall and by a new wooden back gate. A notice at the gate reads: “Service entrance. Diens ingang.” — January 7 1968

FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES 25 YEARS AGO

The ANC has called on Apla and left-wing dissidents to give up “violence”. In its 1993 policy statement released on Friday, the ANC’s national executive committee appealed

“to those of our compatriots who fear the prospect of democratic change. What they should fear is the absence of change. Those who entertain the delusion that the process of change can be stopped or postponed through violence and subversion should abandon this hopeless project.” ANC president Nelson Mandela further said that “any political arrangements enabling democratic rule will be nullified if we do not ensure a stable and growing economy”. — January 10 1993