Category: South African

Jailed South African Paralympic Star Pistorius Met Victim’s Father

JOHANNESBURG—Former South Africa paralympic superstar Oscar Pistorius, jailed in 2016 for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, last week met her father, a lawyer for the Steenkamp family said on Friday. The lawyer, Tania Koen, said Pistorius took part in a process known as victim-offender dialogue—an integral part of South Africa’s restorative justice program that brings…


Fire Ravages South Africa’s Historic Parliament Complex

CAPE TOWN, South Africa—A major fire ripped through South Africa’s 138-year-old Parliament complex on Sunday, gutting offices and causing some ceilings to collapse at a site that has hosted some of the country’s pivotal moments. As firefighters struggled to tame the blaze, a dark plume of smoke and flames rose high into the air above…


South Africa’s Ex-President Zuma Says He’ll Appeal Jail Term

NKANDLA, South Africa—Ignoring efforts to defuse a tense standoff, former South African President Jacob Zuma told hundreds of supporters gathered outside his rural estate that he is appealing his 15-month prison sentence and impending arrest by police. South Africa’s top court, the Constitutional Court, last week sentenced Zuma to prison for defying a court order…


South African ‘Diamond Rush’ Unearths Only Quartz Crystals, Officials Say

JOHANNESBURG—Unidentified stones that lured thousands of fortune seekers to a rural South African village to mine the land with picks and shovels were not diamonds as hoped, officials said on Sunday, but quartz stones with relatively low, if any, value. People from across South Africa travelled to KwaHlathi in the country’s eastern KwaZulu-Natal province where…


Local COVID-19 Restrictions May Return If South African Variant Not Curbed: UK Expert

The UK may need to re-impose local COVID-19 restrictions if the ongoing mass testing operation fails to put the South African variant under control, a medical expert has warned. “I think there is a significant risk of a wave occurring in the summer,” professor John Edmunds, an expert on infectious diseases at the London School…


UK Local COVID-19 Restrictions May Return If South African Variant Isn’t Curbed: Expert

The UK may need to reimpose local COVID-19 restrictions if the ongoing mass testing operation fails to put the South African variant under control, a medical expert has warned. “I think there is a significant risk of a wave occurring in the summer,” professor John Edmunds, an expert on infectious diseases at the London School…


UK Extends Surge Testing As South African COVID-19 Variant Spreads in London

UK health authorities have extended the ongoing COVID-19 surge testing operation to two more London boroughs in an attempt to curb the spread of a variant of the CCP virus first identified in South Africa. The local council of Barnet said on Wednesday the South African variant had been found in the north London borough….


UK Launches ‘Largest Surge Testing Operation’ to Curb SA Variant in London

UK health authorities are carrying out the country’s “largest surge testing operation” so far to curb the spread of the South African variant of the CCP virus in parts of South London, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said on Monday. Extra testing and genomic sequencing are taking place across parts of South…


CCP Virus Variant Affects Vaccinated People More Than Unvaccinated People: Study

A study from Tel Aviv University found that a South African variant of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus affects people vaccinated with the Pfizer shot more than unvaccinated people. The study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, indicated that the B.1.351 variant of the virus—also known as the novel coronavirus—was found eight times more than…


Pfizer COVID-19 Shot 91 Percent Effective in Updated Data, Protective Against South African Variant

Pfizer Inc and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine is around 91 percent effective at preventing the disease, they said on Thursday, citing updated trial data that included participants inoculated for up to six months. The shot was also 100 percent effective in preventing illness among trial participants in South Africa, where a new variant called B1351 is…