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African press review 13 September 2016

Will Somali women get the 82 parliamentary places reserved for them in this month's elections? Has South African president Jacob Zuma done enough to save himself another roasting when he addresses parliament later today? Have politicians in South Sudan been pillaging the national coffers?

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Regional paper the East African reports that the clan factor will be the biggest obstacle for Somali women seeking leadership positions in elections due later this month.

Experts say emancipation will be difficult in the strictly patriarchal Somalia society, and realising the prescribed 30 percent quota for women in the national assembly will be a challenge.

The Somali system involves the selection of 14,000 electors by 135 clan elders, all male. Traditional communities prefer male candidates and will not vote for a woman to represent them, according to most commentators.

The Somalia National Leadership Forum resolved in August that 30 percent of the 275 seats in the national assembly and 52 in the Senate should be reserved for women. That means Somali women are supposed to get 82 seats in parliament and 15 seats in the Senate.

Signs that women are going to face tough times in the elections came as early as June 2015, when Fatuma Dayib   the first woman to declare her interest in the country’s presidency   received death threats from Al Shabaab for daring to contest the presidency.

The 2012 Somali parliament had just 55 women MPs out of the total 275.

China lends a helping hand

The East African also reports that China and the World Bank have formed an infrastructure firm with an initial investment of nearly 500 million euros to help fund projects in Africa.

The so-called China Overseas Infrastructure Development and Investment Corporation plans to undertake major infrastructure projects in partnership with African and other international developers.

The idea is to show that China and the West can team up to underwrite and construct essential public infrastructure in the developing world.

Is Jacob Zuma off the hook, or up the creek?

Has South African president Jacob Zuma done enough to save himself another roasting when he addresses parliament later today? That's the question on the front page of the Johannesburg-based paper BusinessDay.

The opposition is claiming that the announcement that Zuma had paid back the millions of rand spent on nonsecurity upgrades at the president's private home in Nkandla was carefully leaked by the presidency ahead of his appearance in parliament.

The opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), which vowed to heckle the president until he "paid back the money", could still try to stop him answering questions in parliament.

Worse, the EFF says the party will seek legal advice to establish whether the president should be held liable for being the recipient of criminal proceeds, since he has now accepted that he had unduly benefited from the upgrades.

On Monday night, the party said it would not share its game plan for the question-and-answer session with Zuma. But it said it would seek clarity on the conditions that led to VBS Mutual Bank granting Zuma the loan used to settle the debt.

The opposition Democratic Alliance also demanded proof of payment shortly after the Treasury confirmed that the money had been lodged with the National Revenue Fund.

Kir and Machar accused of corruption

The main story in the Sudan Tribune says that South Sudanese leaders have transferred millions of dollars of ill-gotten wealth outside the country while the civil war that has left nearly half the country’s people homeless or in urgent need of humanitarian aid rages on.

President Salva Kiir and some his top associates, including Riek Machar, the country’s former vice president, have invested millions of dollars in real estate in Kenya, Uganda and Australia, according to a report by anti-corruption group The Sentry on the basis of a two-year probe.

According to the report, these powerful political figures and their immediate relatives have large ownership interests in local oil, construction, security and gambling businesses in violation of South Sudanese law barring officeholders from engaging in commercial activity.

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