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African press review 20 February 2017

Does South Africa need an expensive bronze statue of Jacob Zuma? As foreigners are targeted in attacks in Johannesburg and Pretoria, southern African papers ask if the Rainbow Republic is on the verge of another wave of xenophobia. And Grace Mugabe says Zimbabweans would vote for her husband, even if he was dead.

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Jacob Zuma is back on South African front pages this morning but, this time, it's not his fault.

Two headlines in tabloid daily the Sowetan give a flavour of what's going on: "North West needs service delivery – not a statue of Zuma," reads the top line to a story in which the opposition Congress of the People says that, instead of wasting money to erect a statue of the South African leader‚ the North West provincial government should be spending the cash on service delivery.

A Congress of the People spokesman said it was a waste to spend nearly half a million euros building a monument to a man who had brought nothing but misery to the country.

Another opposition group has described the proposed statue as "a national shame".

The Democratic Alliance says the money allocated by the North West provincial government for a six-metre bronze statue of the president should be spent on “priorities” that will benefit the country.

The party says job creation‚ services and infrastructure‚ which are “desperately lacking” must be addressed before statues are built.

Foreigners targeted in second weekend of South African violence

South Africa is making news as far away as Nairobi, where regional newspaper the East African is based.

That paper gives front-page prominence to the spread of attacks against foreigners in the latest wave of South African xenophobia.

According to the report, residents in Pretoria West went on the rampage on Saturday and petrol bombed two houses belonging to foreign nationals.

They claim the immigrants were using the houses as brothels, recruiting young girls as prostitutes and introducing them to drugs.

Over the past two weekends, at least 22 houses either belonging to or being rented by foreigners were burnt in Rosettenville, south of Johannesburg.

Locals alleged that what they call “drug dens” are mushrooming in the area because of immigrants.

No injuries have been reported from any of these incidents and police have yet to make any arrests.

The harsh realities facing Somalia's new president

Yesterday's Mogadishu market attack dominates most regional front pages, with the East African saying this latest atrocity underlines the challenges facing the new president, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed.

The paper says the president has inherited an administration with limited control over Somali territory because of the presence of the Islamist armed group Al Shebab. The Somali government is propped up by international aid.

African Union troops drove Al Shebab fighters out of Mogadishu in August 2011 but they continue to control rural areas and have launched repeated attacks in the capital.

Egyptian state visit to Kenya . . . no tea on the menu!

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi arrived in Kenya at the weekend for a state visit.

It is the first such visit to Kenya by a sitting Egyptian head of state.

President Uhuru Kenyatta received his Egyptian counterpart, who was accorded full military honours, including a 21-gun salute at State House, Nairobi.

After the formal welcome ceremonies, the two leaders held one-on-one talks before they led their delegations in bilateral talks aimed at bolstering cooperation between the two countries.

Kenya’s total exports to to Egypt comprise a limited number of products, dominated by tea which accounts for 96 percent of the total.

Zimbabwe's Mugabe says there is no alternative

There's no stopping Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who'll celebrate his 93rd birthday tomorrow. According to a front-page story in the Kenyan Daily Nation, Mugabe has no plans to give up power, saying there is no "acceptable" successor.

"The call to step down must come from my party," Mugabe said in a radio broadcast to be aired this week of which excerpts have been printed in the state-owned Sunday Mail newspaper.

"The majority of the people feel that there is no replacement . . . who is acceptable, as acceptable as I am," he added.

Mugabe, who has kept an iron grip on power since Zimbabwe declared independence in 1980, has repeatedly denied reports of health problems.

In a separate story, Grace Mugabe, the president's wife, says Zimbabwe will vote for Mugabe even when he's dead.

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