LOOKING BACK

FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES 50 YEARS AGO

South Africa’s first cluster housing scheme is mushrooming at Forest Glade on the wooded slopes of Constantia, near Tokai, Cape Town. International Housing (SA) (Pty), the Americanowned company behind the R2.5 million project, announced that half of the planned 103 dwellings have been snapped up, and the first 30 families will start moving in around April. The project is due for completion by March next year. George Malan, local manager for International Housing of the US, one of the world’s biggest home and resort building groups, said: “The scheme has been based on the cluster housing principle and has met with considerable success in Europe and the Americas, offering a spacious three-bedroomed dwelling for under R25,000.” — March 3 1974

FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES 25 YEARS AGO

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela flew into the industrial heartland of the US, Detroit, Michigan — the country’s car-making capital — and was declared the people’s darling. In a city where more than 80% of the population is black, Madikizela-Mandela is still regarded as the “queen of Africa”. She is in the US on a fundraising mission for the Morris Isaacson school in Soweto. In Detroit, she is the guest of Great Faith Ministries, a revivalist church. She was greeted at Detroit’s Metro Airport by the leader of the church, Bishop Wayne Jackson. He and his wife are hosting Madikizela-Mandela’s visit. She chatted to children at a local hospital, calling them “my little darlings” and telling them: “You are just like me. You are from Africa, but claim your birthright here. Grow up to be leaders.”