South Africa's last apartheid leader FW de Klerk rejected accusations that former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher was a racist Tuesday, on the eve of her funeral. The former leader who shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Nelson Mandela in 1993 said Thatcher did not give the "slightest support for apartheid or for racial discrimination of any kind." In life, and after her death last week, Thatcher was accused of racism because of her opposition to sanctions against the apartheid regime.

South African Paralympian Oscar Pistorius, who is accused of murdering his girlfriend, will not be welcome at the Anniversary Games at London's Olympic Park this year, organisers said on Tuesday. The three-day event to commemorate the first anniversary of the London Olympics will include a day of Paralympic sport, but UK Athletics chairman Ed Warner said Pistorius would not be invited to take part. "I don't want to see the Sunday of the Anniversary Games turning into a media circus," Warner told BBC radio. "It would over-shadow every other athlete that was there.

South African Paralympian sprint star Oscar Pistorius was spotted partying last weekend at a trendy Johannesburg hangout, his first outing with friends since his arrest for the Valentine's Day killing of his girlfriend, media reported Sunday. According to a Sunday Times report, a "relaxed-looking" Pistorius was seen knocking back drinks at a party at an upmarket restaurant last Saturday, but did not stay long.

South Africa's last apartheid president FW de Klerk on Friday accused President Jacob Zuma of using apartheid to cover his own government's failure to tackle joblessness and poor education. "Attempts to blame these failures on 'apartheid' will simply divert government and public attention from the urgent need to implement the kind of realistic solutions" needed to address spiralling social and economic woes, he said.