LOOKING BACK

FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES 50 YEARS AGO

A Johannesburg father was yesterday granted an urgent application restraining Mr. Jose Dos Santos Coelho, 23, from communication with or following his 17-year-old daughter, who was “in fear of her life”. He claimed Mr. Coelho had enticed his daughter to take drugs. The father claimed that Mr. Coelho, who was described as having long side-burns, hair down to his shoulders and a large moustache, had introduced his daughter to dagga. He was also said to have given her a soft drink containing ingredients which put her in a “dream world”. The father said Mr. Coelho had assaulted his daughter and had torn her underclothing in an attempt to be intimate with her. — September 21 1969

FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES 25 YEARS AGO

President Nelson Mandela yesterday warned protesters that the government could act against them if they took hostages or destroyed property. In notes for delivery at a rally in the Northern Cape, Mr Mandela said there was a growing tendency among protesters to abuse their rights to demonstrate. He said the holding of hostages during protest actions was a criminal act. “Similarly, the setting alight of public property, as we witnessed recently, is an act which, if not ceased forthwith, will prompt the government to consider actions,” Mr Mandela said two days after Johannesburg residents ran riot through the suburbs of Eldorado Park, Westbury and Coronationville. — September 18 1994