VERBATIM

”We need to tighten up existing systems and provide greater support to those who publicly come forward with information. As a society, we need to identify where existing laws and policies are inadequate in protecting the livelihoods, reputations and safety of whistleblowers – and work together to address these.” — President Cyril Ramaphosa on the fight against corruption and that whistleblowers must be protected

”This decision about Afghanistan is not just about Afghanistan. It’s about ending an era of major military operations to remake other countries.” — United States President Joe Biden addressing the nation from the White House 24 hours after the last US soldier left Kabul

”Congratulations to our star athletes Ntando Mahlangu and Anruné Weyers for securing Team South Africa’s first medals at the Tokyo Paralympics. Ntando took gold in the men’s long jump T61 with a new world record and Anruné won the women’s 400m. Outstanding!” — President Cyril Ramaphosa. Other Teamsa medal winners are Sheryl James, who won bronze in the women’s 400m, Pieter du Preez, who claimed gold in men’s cycling and Louzanne Coetzee, who took silver in athletics 1 500m

”Those experiments are ongoing ... but based on what we do know from other variants, and based on the fact that some of the mutations in C.1.2 are shared with these other variants, we have considerable confidence that the vaccines that are being rolled out in South Africa will continue to protect us against severe disease and death.” — Professor Penny Moore, the research chair of Virus-host Dynamics at Wits University and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, during a press briefing on Monday on the new Covid-19 variant discovered in South Africa