LOOKING BACK

FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES 50 YEARS AGO

On the eve of the Budget, Mr. Sonny Emdin, the United Party’s shadow

Minister of Finance, warned that, to correct the economy, Dr. Diederichs would have to “clamp down fiercely on Government expenditure that is not absolutely productive”. This would mean axing all purely ideological projects. “Morale is at its lowest ebb since Sharpeville,” Mr. Emdin said. “The general business climate has changed from uncertainty to complete lack of confidence.” The major task facing Dr. Diederichs was to restore confidence in the business and industrial sector. — March 28 1971

FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES 25 YEARS AGO

Sydney Mufamadi, the Minister of Safety and Security, has strongly backed the right of police to shoot and kill fleeing suspects after the controversial killing of a child who was hunting doves. But his colleague, Justice Minister Dullah Omar, is so outraged by the 10-year-old Vryburg boy’s death that he is investigating why murder charges have not been brought against the policeman concerned. This unusual courtroom clash of two ministers in the same government came to light this week when the mother of the dead boy, unemployed single parent Dorah Raloso, took the two ministers and the policeman who killed her son to the Supreme Court in Kimberley. — March 24 1996