LOOKING BACK

FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES 50 YEARS AGO

Frustrated at not being able to see the Apollo 11 Moon landing on television, South Africans raised their voices this week for the introduction of an open television service within the near future. The moon film has proved to be the last straw. And to add fuel to the argument for TV, the Deputy Minister of Justice, of Mines and of Planning, Mr. G. F. van L Froneman, emerged from a screening of the moon landing on closed-circuit television in Pretoria, in company with other Cabinet Ministers and senior public servants, to declare that television was marvellous. South Africa’s lack of television is becoming a source of embarrassment to the country now. — July 27 1969

FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES 25 YEARS AGO

The SABC is poised to declare English the principal language of national broadcasting — effectively relegating Afrikaans to minority status along with the country’s nine other official languages. A radical restructuring plan drawn up at a high level by corporate strategists removes Afrikaans altogether from TV1, the SABC’s flagship channel, and transfers it to the multilingual CCV. The proposal will infuriate Afrikaans cultural organisations, which have already vowed to fight any reduction in the SABC’s use of the language. Only last week both the Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurvereniginge accused the corporation of actively favouring English at the expense of Afrikaans. — July 24 1994