LOOKING BACK

FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES 50 YEARS AGO

Mr Joseph Pretorius, 48, and his African servant, 29-year-old Miss Harriet Mlakalaka, who were freed by an East London court four months ago on a charge of contravening the Immorality Act, this week left South Africa with Mr Pretorius’s 52-year-old wife, Celia. Since the case, the three have lived together as “one happy family”. They say former friends and neighbours shunned them and made their lives miserable. They now plan to settle in Zambia and make a new life. They arrived in Johannesburg two weeks ago, awaiting a R1 000 cheque from the South African Railways which was Mr Pretorius’s pension after serving as a boilermaker for 30 years. — February 4 1968

FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES 25 YEARS AGO

The case of a Brakpan businessman who died of Aids could establish a legal precedent on whether doctors can disclose that a patient has the killer disease. In 1991, Barry McGeary sued his doctor, Thys Kruger, for telling two people he was HIV-positive. It was the first medical confidentiality case to go to court in South Africa. It is also the first to go on appeal. World interest grew because confidentiality is a largely untested area of the law in many countries. Mr McGeary died during the trial, but his lawyer, Mervyn Joseph, and lover, Johan van Vuuren, were allowed to continue the case. The judge found for Dr Kruger, but Mr McGeary’s team was granted leave to appeal. — February 7 1993