LOOKING BACK

FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES 50 YEARS AGO

The Government provided two Press shocks this weekend. It announced that it was considering extending the scope of the Publications and Entertainments Act — which allows for the banning of publications – to all daily and Sunday newspapers. And it appointed a former Nationalist newspaper editor, Mr Jannie Kruger, as the new chairman of the Publications Control Board, which enforces the Act. Mr Kruger was formerly editor of the Transvaler in Johannesburg. — November 10 1968 FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES 25 YEARS AGO

Rising medical-aid costs could reach the equivalent of an entire monthly salary unless the industry is restructured, a judicial commission of inquiry was told this week. Mr Alan Gore of Momentum Insurance told the Melamet Commission into funding of medical-aid schemes that member contributions were already escalating 24% a year. Consumers were facing a “no-win” situation, he said, with members claiming recklessly, medical practitioners overclaiming and administrators feathering their nests from the increased costs. The commission was also told by Mrs Jacqueline Kennedy-Pentz, spokesman for a medical-aid brokerage, that “most medical-aid-scheme members think the fund is a bottomless pit of money that never runs out.” — November 14 1993