African press review 26 January 2018

Zimbabwe launches an inquiry into Grace Mugabe's PhD. Technical hitch delays awaited payments for thousands of Kenyan teachers. President Zuma sets terms for state capture inquiry and Nigeria's ex-elections chief says corrupt politicians are a danger to the 2019 elections.

We start in Kenya, where more than 100,000 teachers will not get their leave allowances at the end of the month because of a technical hitch. The Standard says the allowances are a key part of the Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiated with teachers' unions, after last year's long srike.

According to the paper the Teachers Service Commission on Thursday apologized to the 102,619 teachers, saying the software malfunction which slashed up to 5,000 Shillings from the checks of some teachers would be corrected. The Standard says that this was to be the first time teachers were getting the allowances under the deal.

Also in Kenya Daily Nation leads with news from Zimbabwe, that the country's leading university has published the thesis submitted by former first lady Grace Mugabe, which enabled her to be awarded a doctorate degree. The paper says the work was put on line on Thursday after it became the subject of a fraud investigation.

According to the Nation, Grace, was awarded a PhD by the University of Zimbabwe in 2014 after just months of study when doctorates typically require several years of full-time research and writing. Grace Mugabe, a former secretary, had been widely tipped to succeed her 93-year-old husband, before last year's army takeover that eventually saw Robert Mugabe resign.

In South Africa the papers are all about President Zuma's release on Thursday of the the long awaited terms of reference of the State Capture commission of inquiry.

City Press says Thursday's Government Gazette underlines Zuma's wish to see an investigation of all forms of government corruption, including allegations against him, his Cabinet ministers, the Gupta family and state-owned entities.

According to the newspaper he also wants the commission, which will be headed by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, to investigate if any member of the executive unlawfully, corruptly or improperly intervened in the closing of the Gupta banks accounts.

The former public protector Thuli Madonsela completed the investigation in 2016 just as her tenure came to an end, and since then Zuma has used the courts to try and thwart and delay its contents from becoming public and having the recommendations put in action.

Mail and Guardian says there has been ongoing debate over what the terms of the commission should be, with some arguing that it should be extended beyond the Gupta family and even towards the beginning of South Africa's democratic era.

Cape Times asked the new ANC leader and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa about the developments as he attended the World Economic Forum in Davos. He described the state capture probe as a "huge plus» that will enable the country to "go to the depths of the corruption that has been taking place in state-owned enterprises".

The era of contempt for accountability is over, comments Times Live. The paper says that the commission must submit its report and recommendations to the president within 180 days of the commencement of the commission.

In Nigeria, the Tribune takes up an appeal by the country's former elections' chief Attahiru Jega to citizens to prevent corrupt politicians from compromising the 2019 general election.

According to the newspaper Jega who spoke at a conference in Lagos on Thursday, denounced what he called a systematic campaign to compromise Youth Corps members, members of Civil Society Organizations and some students involved in election duties.