African press review 13 March 2018

Zimbabweans urge Mugabe to take a leaf from Zuma. Bono says sorry to South Africans humilited at his One Campaign charity. And Kenyan "Matatus" go back to driving school.

We begin in Zimbabwe where prominent academics are taking to the press in their campaign to get ex-President Robert Mugabe to stay out of politics.

The State-owned Herald carries an appeal by so-called political analysts urging Mugabe to take a leaf from South Africa's Jacob Zuma ousted last month but who has volunteered to lead a get-out-to-vote campaign in his Kwa-Zulu Natal province for the ruling African National Congress, ahead of the 2019 general elections.

Alexander Rusero who is one of the political analysts quoted by the Chronicle contrasts Zuma's posture with that of Mugabe who he claims has selfishly anointed retired Brigadier General Ambrose Mutinhiri to lead the National Patriotic Front.

The party is a new political outfit composed of members of the G40 cabal expelled from the ruling ZANU/PF party during the bitter succession  crisis.

Another Goodwine Mureriwa warns that Mugabe's sentiments should not be allowed to take the country hostage. He accuses Mugabe of blundering for the first time and "reading a wrong political script because at the end of the day he is busy fighting something he created and the history and legacy he is part of".

In South Africa, Mail and Guardian sheds light on a major bullying scandal that has embroiled the Johannesburg office of the ONE Campaign anti-corruption charity fronted by U2 lead singer Bono.

The paper reports that the organization has been threatened with legal action by former staff members, who claim that they were “treated worse than dogs”, and for years subjected to ridicule and belittling behaviour.

The charity’s former Africa executive director and head of the South Africa office, Sipho Moyo, has been singled out for criticism by aggrieved staff who claim that she demoted a married, female staff member after she refused to sleep with a Tanzanian MP, and often invited staff to parties at her house, only to use them as waiters and waitresses.

Mail and Guardian reports that Bono who was accused of turning a blind eye to these accusations until they became public has finally issued a public apology for the scandal.

Matatu drivers

In Kenya, Standard welcomes the organization of a three-day refresher course for all public service vehicle drivers across the country. According to the paper at least 11,000 long distance drivers started undergoing rigorous assessment to certify their competence on Monday with some 12 technical institutes and polytechnics facilitating the training.

Duncan Kibogong who heads the road safety division at Kenya’s National Transport and Safety Authority told the Star that the course is not about the condition of the vehicle or the road but about how the "Matatu" drivers behave on the road.

Kibogong however reportedly admitted that the training was motivated by statistics showing that two-thirds of 2919 fatalities recorded last year occurred at night, 80 percent of them as a result of human error, particularly by the driver.