Skip to main content

African press review 9 January 2017

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma's address makes the headlines, while in Kenya, a study gives alarming figures on sexual violence.

Advertising

In South Africa, the Mail & Guardian leads with President Jacob Zuma’s final January 8 anniversary of the fondation of the party address in front of a packed Orlando Stadium in Soweto, signalling the first of many last events he will address as president of the ANC.

The paper reports that under the day’s theme of “unity in action”, Zuma called for unity within the ANC, urging the party to wash out “evil practices” which he said were tainting the organisation.

These included gatekeeping, factionalism and the abuse of internal democratic processes.

The paper says that the ANC came out of a difficult 2016, which saw disappointing results in the municipal elections, and 2017 is likely to see more challenges within the party in the form of deepening factions as well as lobby groups as the party heads to its national conference.

Business Day also leads with this address, saying the President wants to increase ownership of the economy by the black majority, and for this, the government had to embark on a labour absorbing growth path, with every rand spent aiding job growth.

The 60 million euro set aside for infrastructure development would create entrepreneurs and new regulations to be introduced in 2017 will make it compulsory for large construction companies to ensure that 30 percent of the contractors used are small and medium enterprises.

Zuma said this should empower black owned companies.

The party was optimistic that an economic growth forecast of 2.9 percent would be achieved and highlighted the manufacturing sector as another catalyst for growth.

Kenya’s Daily Nation leads with a study which reveals “Women struggle to seek help after sexual violence”.

Women in their twenties face the most risk, the paper says, with one in 10 assaulted in the 12 months preceding the survey, and more than half (53 per cent) of women who suffer from sexual violence never tell anyone or seek help.

One factor that influences how likely a survivor is to disclose violence or seek help, whether physical or sexual, is religion, says the report. Women with no religious affiliations are the likeliest to open up, at 75 per cent, more than Roman Catholics (61 per cent), and Muslims, Protestants or other Christians (59 per cent).

Furthermore, the study suggests that women become more vulnerable to sexual violence while living independently as adults, and better educated women seem to suffer less from sexual violence.

The paper points out that “society only classifies those who attack these women in dark corners as rape.” More than half (55 per cent) of women who have been married in their lifetime and have experienced sexual violence said the perpetrators were their current husbands or partners, while more than a quarter (28 per cent) said the offenders were former husbands or partners.

In Nigeria, both Vanguard and the Punch lead with Aisha Buhari, the wife of the President Muhammadu Buhari, who said yesterday that £32,000 was spent in the past by the Nigerian High Commission in the United Kingdom as landing fees for private jets of former First Ladies.

She said the money spent on the lounge when she visited the UK was a far cry from what was obtainable during the past administrations, after she was accused of fleecing the Nigerian High Commission and abuse of privilege whenever she travels to the UK.

She added in a statement that “Part her trips abroad as First Lady are for her NGO, which is not funded by the government, and it is not uncommon to have stopover in Britain like any other country as the case may be.

According to her, VIP treatment is simple protocol for a personality of her status, which is done all over the world.

Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning

Keep up to date with international news by downloading the RFI app

Share :
Page not found

The content you requested does not exist or is not available anymore.