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African press review 15 August 2015

A football game turns tragic as lightening strikes children sheltering under a tree. A "dead man" causes commotion in a Nigerian court where he appeared as witness. And South Africa's liquor industry offers an olive branch to the government in an attempt to head off a ban on alcohol advertising.

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South Africa's Business Day reports that the government has been threatening to raise the minimum drinking age to 21 from 18 since the World Health Organisation named South Africa among the countries with the worst drinking problem.

In its 2014 global liquor outlook, the WHO said South Africans consumed a total of 27.1 litres of pure alcohol per capita in 2010, versus a global average of 6.2 litres of alcohol a year for those aged 15 and older. The industry earns a 333 billion rand (23 billion euros) a year for the South African economy and wine producers have offered to regulate marketing jointly with the government in an attempt to head off a ban.

Alcohol producers argue that South Africa can’t afford to destroy an industry that brings money into the national budget, but also can’t turn a blind eye to problems associated with abuse.

Business Day says they are trying to find a way to restrict radio, television and outdoor advertising. According to the paper the industry has also proposed fines and a possible loss of licenses for repeat offenders if members failed to enforce any restrictions agreed on.

Public health officials in Africa’s most advanced economy say regulation of alcohol consumption and education about its abuse have failed to keep pace with the investment by companies.

In Kenya, Daily Nation investigates how a football game turned tragic for five primary school pupils in the Western provincial county of Kakamega. According to the newspaper the children aged between seven and 14 were killed by lightening as they took shelter from rain under a big tree.

The Nation says two of the boys are from the same family, adding that the tragedy comes just a day after seven pupils of a Murang’a primary school drowned in the Indian Ocean while on holiday in Kwale.

In Nigeria, there was drama in a Delta state court on Friday as a presumed dead man was called upon to testify in an electoral case between two local officials of the ruling party the All Progressives Congress and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party.

Vanguard reports that the middle-aged man identified as Christopher Anirah told the tribunal that his death certificate was allegedly forged by the APC candidate for the House of Representatives, in order to get Nigeria’s elections body to disqualify a rival list in the local ballot.

Charles Umweni had reportedly told the tribunal that the witness he intends to call   Anirah   could not come to the tribunal to testify, claiming that he died after suffering a cardiac attack.

The publication says there was commotion in the tribunal as the bewildered audience started shuffling and murmuring in low tones over the appearance of a "dead man" as Anirah walked into the witness box to give evidence, prompting Justice Banjoko to call for calm.

Anirah told the court he had received several death threats through phone calls warning him not to come near the tribunal premises to testify in the on-going matter.

And Punch reports the arrest of a 55-year-old woman and her daughter in Calabar, Cross River State after they were found with 23 children.

Police said the children were aged between three and nine and dressed in tattered clothes. Southern City News gathered that the two key suspects were picked up on Friday on a tip by a local clan leader.

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