African press review 14 November 2016

South Africa's ruling ANC party short-lists six candidates vying to succeed President Zuma. More reactions from Africa, about the ravages of Donald Trump's ultra-nationalist agenda on emerging market currencies. And a Kenyan couple becomes the laughing stock to his countrymen after naming his new-born baby Donald Trump. 

We begin in South Africa where the ruling ANC has declared open the bidding process to pick a successor to President Jacob Zuma ahead of the next year's election of the party's new leader.

Mail and Guardian reports that the party’s Secretary General Gwede Mantashe announced in an interview that six candidates were expected to raise their hands when the process rolls on next weekend.

The paper claims that while Mantashe did not name the personalities in the shortlist, it expected Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the African Union Commission's Chairperson to be among the front-runners to succeed Zuma.

Mail and Guardian quotes Mantashe as saying that contrary to past practice, the six were due to square off in an open debate as they must reach out to millions of ANC supporters who stayed away from the polls in municipal elections in August after Zuma's implication in a series of scandals.

His current term of office runs out in 2019 and he is not eligible to stand for re-election after serving two terms, according to Mail and Guardian.

The publication says he is moreover facing increasing calls to step down after South Africa’s top court ruled in March he had violated the constitution by refusing to pay back taxpayer money to upgrade his private residence.

Also in South Africa, Times Live assesses the ravages of Donald Trump's dramatic victory in the US presidential elections on emerging-market currencies.

It reports that the rand, slipped seven per cent against the dollar this week as concern grow that policies Trump is set to implement could lead to capital outflows from developing nations and weaken their exports.

As thousands of Americans fill the streets to protest Trump's ultra-nationalist agenda, Nigeria's Vanguard says it is alarming to watch citizens of the world's leading democracy exhibit traits associated with less-fancied democracies.

The paper urges President Barack Obama and the Clintons to move fast, rein in their supporters and fulfill their pledge to ensure a peaceful transfer of power.

Vanguard on the other hand, warns President-elect, Trump, to be mindful of the sacred trust that his mandate represents and do away with truculent rhetoric arguing that the protests present him with the first acid test of whether he is fit to be the president of all Americans.

And Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper takes note of Donald Trump's "final conciliatory gesture", the billionaire decision to forego the $400,000 salary that comes with the function of the US president and instead take one dollar every year to conform to the provisions of the law.

Nairobi News profiles a Kisumu couple who are the subject of great scorn in Kenya after naming the baby after Donald Trump. Felix and Lorna Otieno are reported by the paper to have defended their decision to the fact that they like the tycoon's principles of straight talking and never lying to win votes.

And Standard Digital expresses dismay at a rather strange habit by bus or Matatu drivers who go on their knees in prayer every morning before embarking on their duties.

According to the newspaper the morning ritual by the so-called rogue drivers has gone vital on social media, with some people welcoming the crime-plagued industry's reconnection with God, while others slammed the moments of prayers as a sick joke.

"Foolish people" shouted another. "Prayer doesn't save you from road accidents and accompanying death and injury. Instead of praying they should spend the time to learn the Highway Code and how to drive like sane people, he argued, according to the Standard.