England enforced the follow-on after they needed only 28 balls to dismiss South Africa's last four batsmen on the fourth day of the third Test at St George's Park on Sunday.
But rain delayed their progress with South Africa on 15 for no wicket in their second innings, still 275 runs behind England's first innings total of 499 for nine declared. Rain started to fall 57 minutes before lunch and no further play was possible before the interval.
Stuart Broad took three wickets as South Africa added only one run to be bowled out for 209.
Armed with the second new ball, Broad struck with the fourth delivery of the morning when Vernon Philander missed a drive against a full delivery which swung in between bat and pad. He was out for 27.
Sam Curran uprooted Quinton de Kock's middle stump with the fifth ball of the next over with the left-hander missing an extravagant drive against a ball angled in from the left-armed bowler. De Kock had not added to his overnight score of 63.
Keshav Maharaj was bowled off a bottom edge when he tried to pull a ball from Broad before Kagiso Rabada, who scored the only run in the collapse, hit a simple catch to mid-off to give Broad his third wicket. Broad finished with three for 30.
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Dean Elgar and Pieter Malan finally showed some application for South Africa as they negotiated 6.5 overs before the rain arrived. Elgar hit three boundaries off Curran to be unbeaten on 13, while Malan scored a single.
Although more showers are predicted for the remaining two days, South Africa face a tough battle to prevent England from taking a 2-1 lead in the series ahead of the fourth and final Test, starting in Johannesburg on Friday.