The archives gave a Record journalist an interesting glance at then-current issues on 4 November 1983 and 5 November 1993 (unfortunately, a November issue of 2003 was not available).
As reported on by journalists Gien Elsas and Steven van der Merwe some twenty and even 30 years ago, Roodepoorters experienced similar problems with the municipality to the ones they do now. They also delighted in free movie tickets courtesy of the Record and became heavily involved in a night club dilemma in the Florida area.
In 1983 it seems the municipality worked almost too much in residents’ favour, with businessmen on Goldman Street complaining about a road being retarred. This “interfered with business hours” they complained, expressing their disgust that the retarring wasn’t done over a weekend. By the same token residents rejoiced earlier this year when the residential road Dee Dee Brown Street was resurfaced after much back-and-forth with the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) and a DA councillor. The fact that the JRA finally attended to Corlett Avenue and Steinmann Street as well, made for an article on its own.
In 1993 the buck was passed to the Transvaal Provincial Administration to fix Christiaan de Wet Road, which was in “abysmal disrepair”. An article about the Roodepoort City Council stating this was published along with an angry letter from a resident about the issue.
The Record gave out free Ster Kinekor movie tickets to any reader who could answer a set question about the 4 November 1983 edition, provided that they personally submitted their answers at the office (then in Luttig Street, Roodepoort).
Finally, a whole page was dedicated to letters expressing views on noisy night clubs near residential areas in November 1993. Andrew Smith from Florida said that Roodepoort is a great place to party as it is en route to Johannesburg if you travel from Krugersdorp or Randfontein. Both Annlies Davids and Miss Mengel, from Florida Lake and Discovery respectively, said nay.
In 1983, this journalist was but a distant hope of a family, and by 1993, she was 1 year old and saying her first word, “no”.
