African press review 15 March 2018

Ex-President Zuma to refund one million euros of public funds spent on personal legal fees. Will land expropriation become President Ramaphosa's Achilles' heel? And Kenya displays large arsenal of foiled terrorists' plot.

We begin in Kenya where police have gone public with revelations about a terrorist attack foiled last month. .

The Standard says Inspector General of police Joseph Boinnet revealed Wednesday that the five suspects intercepted in Merti last month had planned to strike a court in Nairobi to free a Muslim cleric Sheikh Guyo Gorsa who is currently in custody over various terror related charges.

The police boss also reportedly displayed the recovered items which he said would have caused maximum damage in a radius of 250 meters.

The Standard holds that some 1,199 bullets, 36 unprimed hand grenades, 18 Improvised Explosive Devices and five AK 47 rifles were reportedly recovered from an SUV and four other suspects are in custody from the sting operation on February 15, 2018.

In South Africa where the country's Constitutional Court has dismissed a bid to prevent the National Prosecuting Authority from announcing a decision on whether former President Jacob Zuma will be prosecuted.

Mail and Guardian reports that the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (Casac) filed an urgent application to interdict the announcement pending a Constitutional Court ruling on an appeal in the case.

The publication says that the possible charges against Zuma include fraud, corruption and racketeering.

The Sowetan says Zuma will know “any day from Friday, if he will face prosecution.

In related news Mail and Guardian also claims that the former president Jacob Zuma has signed an agreement with the state to repay public funds spent on his various legal battles in the event he is found guilty of the charges levelled against him.

According to the paper, President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed in the National Assembly on Thursday that a total of R15.3-million (more than a million euros) was spent by the government on Zuma’s “personal legal costs” since 2006.

Ramaphosa's first question and answer session in the National Assembly as president is the lead story in today's issue of City Press. The publication claims that as expected, MPs didn't spare him during Wednesday's plenary as they quizzed him on issues for his answers were not very popular. 

City Press picks out the question of land expropriation without compensation City Press, pointing to Ramaphosa's reference to the imperative of expropriating land from “white owners” and giving it to “our people”.

According to the newspaper, one opposition lawmaker bluntly rebuked Ramaphosa for encouraging a divisive narrative in his answer and of violating South Africa's Bill of Rights which enshrines the equality of all in the Rainbow Nation, be they Indian, African, Coloured or White.