African Press Review 9 december 2017

The possibility of dialogue between rival leaders in Kenya. A financial scandal in South Africa. And, kowtowing to the new President of Zimbabwe.

"Uhuru and Raila: Who will blink first?" is the lede story in Kenya's Daily Nation.

If you recall - incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga contested the Presidential election in August.

Kenyatta won by a small margin but the Supreme Court annulled the result citing "irregularities".

Odinga and his supporters boycotted the re-run in October - Kenyatta scored 98 per cent and was sworn in for a 2nd term in office a fortnight ago.

Evidently a bad loser - Odinga refuses to accept this and intends to be sworn is as President on Tuesday next week.

This might seem like Alice in Wonderland - but could prove less amusing.

In its editorial, the Nation says "The country is going through anxious moments yet again as the Opposition plans to hold a parallel ceremony to swear in Raila Odinga as the ‘People’s President’.

"It beggars the question; what does Mr Odinga’s plan signify. What does the ‘People’s President’ do? What powers does he have?"

I suspect the answer to this is - no power under the constitution or the law. But power enough to cause trouble.

"There is growing consensus that the country’s leadership must engage in candid conversation to tackle the widening political chasm," says the Nation.

"This requires sobriety and utmost good faith."

"Mr Odinga should put on hold the planned ceremony. President Kenyatta should engage Mr Odinga to resolve the issues that threaten to tear the country apart."

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The Standard sees a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

"Jubilee (that's Kenyatta's party) and NASA (that's Odinga's) inch closer to dialogue."

The good news - says the Standard - is that the new development signals a possible breakthrough on talks seeking to end political division and ethnic polarisation."

The bad - perhaps - is that the Opposition had released a programme of events on Tuesday - disparaging  - thumbing its nose if you like - at the Government warning against the swearing-in of Raila Odinga.

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Business Day in South Africa gives its attention to what's become known as the Steinhoff scandal.

As you may know - Steinhoff is a leading African retailer - with more than almost 5,000 stores in 12 African countries,

"In a year when there has been populist rhetoric directed against "white monopoly capital" and a rise in anti business sentiment generally, the last thing corporate SA needed was a large and damaging scandal," says Business Day.

"And what a scandal Steinhoff is, even though the gory details are as yet unknown,." the paper says.

More than R150bn has been wiped off the value of its shares this week since the company’s board announced an investigation into "accounting irregularities" and the immediate resignation of CEO Markus Jooste.

"The board’s subsequent efforts to reassure the market with vague media releases about asset sales and liquidity have simply made things worse, raising even more questions about the real story of the "irregularities" and about Steinhoff’s financial position.

The longer Steinhoff takes to come clean on the details, the more value is likely to be lost not only on Steinhoff but across the equity market," Business Day concludes.

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For the government-owned Herald in Zimbabwe - it's a case of the King is dead - long live the King.

After spending decades kowtowing to former President Robert Mugabe the paper is now the biggest fan of his successor and former deputy Emmerson Mnangagwa.

This morning's paper accused the opposition of being caught in "a time warp."

This because they entertained dreams of a power sharing arrangement and have lamented the inclusion in government of so many of the usual suspects from the Mugabe era.

"Our view is that their inclusion in Government would have been more disruptive than constructive", the paper says.

"The opposition should be showing goodwill towards the new dispensation that people’s fortunes may change positively in the shortest possible period."