LOOKING BACK

FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES 50 YEARS AGO

Dr Piet Koornhof, Deputy Minister of Bantu Administration, said yesterday that he would at this stage not enforce a policy of “Whites only” towns in South Africa. Only local authorities which wanted to carry out this policy, and could provide African labour with adequate accommodation in African urban townships and with free transport, would be given the opportunity to go ahead with the scheme. Warmbaths and Pietersburg asked for permission to carry out the “Whites only” policy in their towns, he said. Dr Koornhof made an announcement about the “White at night” towns when he spoke at the Free State National Party congress this week. — September 22 1968

FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES 25 YEARS AGO

ANC leader Nelson Mandela claimed this week that the power of Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi could be “greatly reduced” if the government cut off funding to the Kwazulu homeland. In an interview screened in Britain this week, Mr Mandela said the problem with the Inkatha leader was that President FW de Klerk’s government continued to fund him. Asked if violence would increase if Mr Buthelezi stayed out of the negotiation process, Mr Mandela said “Buthelezi is a problem only insofar as De Klerk wants him to be a problem. If De Klerk said today to Buthelezi, ‘From tomorrow you pay your own bills’, the power of Buthelezi would be greatly reduced.” — September 26 1993