VERBATIM

O“We must call it by its rightful name ... it’s Sharpeville Day. They call it Human Rights Day so that they distort the history of

SA, so you don’t know what this day is about. This is a day where black people were killed by white people because black people were fighting for the rights of black people. Human Rights Day for who, for what, where?” — Economic Freedom Fighters’ leader Julius Malema during a 21 March address

“In the past weeks the department has had to ensure that all member states identified by the African Union vaccine acquisition team as recipients of the vaccines, are compliant and have obtained all regulatory approvals, permits and licences to roll out the vaccines in their respective countries.” — Health Minister

Zweli Mkhize confirms that South Africa’s batch of Astrazeneca vaccines has been sold to other countries

“Everyone always talks about female athletes inspiring young girls … but why can’t we inspire boys as well? …When I was little, there weren’t any female footballers on the television so when I was playing football with my brother, when I scored a free-kick, I would be like: ‘I’m David Beckham!’ Now, you can say: ‘I’m Steph Houghton!’ and it shouldn’t be frowned upon. Steph puts free-kicks into the top corner … Why wouldn’t a little boy want to do that?” — Manchester City Women defender Lucy Bronze on gender equality in sports

“We are now basically in a new pandemic … Essentially we have a new virus ... Significantly more deadly, significantly more infectious [and] infectious for longer.”

— German Chancellor Angela Merkel, justifying her move to send Germany into another hard lockdown. She later walked back her statement and cancelled the lockdown