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African press review 19 September 2011

In South Africa Julius Malema marks one victory in the ANC disciplinary hearing against him. Botswana, the country whose government his Youth League comrades want toppled, comes top of the rough-diamond league. Factions keep fighting in Zimbabwe's MDC. Why Ugandan MPs may have to come back from holiday. And Kenya's anti-graft campaign proceeds at a stately pace.

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According to South African daily newspaper The Sowetan, things went well for Julius Malema at his ANC disciplinary hearing on Friday.

Describing Malema as a "firebrand" and the hearing as one which could derail his political career, the paper says the ANC Youth League leader won a small victory when a disciplinary panel on Friday provisionally withdrew a charge against him for inflaming factionalism in the ruling party.

But Malema, named last week by Forbes magazine as one of the most powerful men in Africa, still faces suspension or expulsion from the ANC if found guilty of other charges, including bringing the ruling party into disrepute.

The ANC disciplinary panel is expected to announce a verdict this week.

South Africa's Business Day reports that Botswana, the world’s leading producer of diamonds, is now set to become the largest seller of rough diamonds as well, following a 10-year deal signed at the weekend with the multinational De Beers.

The deal will see De Beers move its rough diamond sorting and trading division from London to Botswana by the end of 2013.

Botswana’s government expects the move will see the value of its diamond trading reach 4.4 billion euros, all of which will go through national banks.

The authorities expect the number of businesses set up by diamond-cutting and polishing firms to rise and is pushing for jewellery-makers to come to the country too.

Zimbabwe daily NewsDay gives pride of place to reporting that the row between the leaders of the two factions of the Movement for Democratic Change is far from over.

On Saturday, Welshman Ncube, the leader of the smaller MDC group, branded MDC-T leader and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai as an “uneducated person who has no capacity to deal with the country’s problems”.

Addressing supporters in Torwood on Saturday, Ncube said that the problems facing Zimbabwe were too complex for Tsvangirai and could not be addressed by slogans or the waving of hands.

Tsvangirai has already had to deal with this sort of criticism. He says Ncube continues to attack him because he has nothing to offer the electorate himself.

NewsDay also reports that the Zanu-PF anti-sanctions petition campaign has died a natural death almost eight months after it was launched. The paper suggests the party has developed cold feet because the programme was failing to achieve its targeted goal.

In June, Zanu PF claimed it had collected 2.5 million signatures of people against the punitive measures imposed on Zanu-PF leaders.

Insiders say the anti-sanctions programme has clearly failed to achieve Zanu-PF’s goal of influencing the European Union and United States to remove travel and other restrictions on party members, including President Robert Mugabe. This has left the party with no option but to abandon the campaign, at least temporarily.

The Monitor in Kampala reports that members of parliament might have their holidays cut short. According to The Monitor, a group of MPs from across the political divide spent the weekend collecting signatures from colleagues for a petition aiming at recalling parliament for an emergency sitting, just three days after it went into recess.

If it's endorsed, the petition will force an emergency plenary sitting of parliament to discuss the secrecy and uncertainty over the government’s handling of recently signed oil agreements with foreign companies.

By Saturday the petitioners had collected 75 signatures. The law requires at least 125  for a move to recall parliament to succeed.

In Kenya the Daily Nation reports that President Mwai Kibaki will today name the nine-member panel that will select the commissioners for the agency to take over from the anti-corruption watchdog.

The Kenyan Anti-Corruption Commission was disbanded following the passage of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Act, has yet to conclude investigations and make recommendations on at least 11 major cases.

Kibaki is in New York at the moment, attending the 66th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

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