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African press review 28 October 2014

Egypt gets a handout from the US and continues its clampdown on protesters. SA police rush to find Senzo Meyiwa’s killers. Malema is in trouble with the police. And Kenya is to up its growth target.

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The main story in this morning's Cairo-based Egypt Independent reports that the United States will provide Egypt with 200 million dollars (158 million euros) to support its economy, without specifying a date or conditions for spending the funds.

The same front page tells us that political activist Alaa Abdel Fattah and 20 others were remanded yesterday, pending a retrial on charges of breaking a law that seeks to curb protests.

Abdel Fattah, a leading figure in the 2011 revolt that ended Hosni Mubarak's rule, and 24 fellow activists were freed on bail last month pending a retrial after the presiding judge in their case stepped aside.

The first hearing in their retrial was held yesterday and the 21 activists who attended were all remanded. The court ordered the arrest of the remaining four.

The judge set 11 November as the date of the next hearing.

Egypt expanded the jurisdiction of military courts yesterday to enable them to try civilians accused of attacking state facilities or blocking roads.

The measure, approved by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, is likely to be seen by his critics as another clampdown on dissent by a government that has jailed thousands of former president Mohamed Morsi's supporters and targeted other activists.

Military courts can currently try anyone charged with attacking military installations or personnel but Monday's presidential decree gives them jurisdiction over attacks on infrastructure such as roads, railway or pipelines.

It also empowers military courts to try people who obstruct roads, for example by holding unlicensed protests.

In South Africa financial paper BusinessDay looks at the "surprisingly prompt" reaction to Sunday’s killing of Bafana Bafana captain Senzo Meyiwa. National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega on Monday announced a 20,000-euro reward for anonymous tip-offs, describing it as part of the efforts to show the world that SA had the ability to deal with crime.

But the reward, along with the announcement of a special police task team to look into the case, has led to comparisons with how police deal with the murder cases of ordinary South Africans. There are 46 cases of murder every day in SA, the latest crime statistics show.

The BusinessDay editorial calls for clarity on the position of the public protector, South Africa's ombudsman. Public Protector Thuli Madonsela has been much in the news since her finding that President Jacob Zuma had unfairly profited from the use of public funds to refurbish his private home in KwaZulu-Natal and should repay some of the money.

Since then debate has raged over the legal status of such a ruling. Is it binding or just advisory, and, depending on the answer, what is the point of having a public protector anyway?

The editorial ends by saying that the public protector has been inundated with cases because so many of the other state institutions that should be involved in the battle against corruption   from the National Prosecuting Authority to parliament itself   have either been rendered dysfunctional or are constantly undermined by the Zuma administration. According to BusinessDay, the office of the public protector and the judiciary are about the only bulwarks that remain between the people and an increasingly predatory state.

Over at the Sowetan, the front page is dominated by news that three charges are being investigated against Economic Freedom Fighters party leader Julius Malema following a weekend scuffle involving a security guard.

Limpopo police say Malema is being investigated for brandishing a firearm, common assault and malicious damage to property.

Malema allegedly pointed a firearm at a security guard at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane on Sunday morning during an argument when Malema and his bodyguards tried to leave through an unofficial exit. They had been attending a music festival at the stadium.

The security guard was allegedly pushed against the gate and the group opened it by force, damaging it.

The front page of the Nairobi-based Standard newspaper reports that Kenya is to review its economic growth target for this year.

The move follows a recent recalculation of the size of the economy, a move that led to a jump in annual growth rates.

Government officials now estimate that 2013’s Gross Domestic Product was 25 per cent higher than previously stated, after updating the base year for its calculation.

Growth for 2013 was revised up to 5.7 per cent from 4.7 per cent. The higher growth trend was confirmed when the statistics office said the economy expanded by 5.8 per cent in the second quarter of this year, up from 4.4 per cent in the first three months.
 

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