LOOKING BACK

FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES 50 YEARS AGO

The more than 1,500,000 members of South Africa’s medical aid schemes are being used as “a pawn” by the medical profession to extract higher fees and secure amendments to the Medical Schemes Act to suit only themselves, the secretary of the South African Association of Medical Aid Schemes, Mr. Paul Becker, said. “We have fallen over backwards to meet their pay demands, but they have adopted an attitude of ‘all or nothing’ and broken off all negotiations. They are doing this at the expense of the public, and in essence their dispute is not based on doctor-patient relationships but on doctor-payment relations.” — June 30 1968

FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES 25 YEARS AGO

After an astonishing week of progress, the talks at the World Trade Centre have nailed down the framework for a liberal democratic constitution. “The democracy train is on track,” a jubilant Cyril Ramaphosa said after a meeting that adopted 26 constitutional principles and ratified April 27 next year as the date by which elections must be held. “Whatever obstacles now lie ahead, they are not as great as those we have overcome,” said Mr Ramaphosa, the ANC’s chief negotiator at the talks which this week accepted in principle a range of measures for ensuring a smooth transition. “Today was one of the most important days in the negotiating process so far,” Roelf Meyer said. — July 4 1993