African press review 23 April 2016

In today's African papers, news that thousands of poor South Africans are saying "no thanks" to free electricity despite rising prices; a top Kenyan MP frowns at a campaign to empower women; and a fake Nigerian colonel with heavily armed soldiers in his escort team is arrested in Lagos.

DR

We begin in Kenya where the majority leader at the National Assembly may have sparked a women's crusade against him after controversial remarks on Thursday.

The Star

Aden Duale spoke out against a nationwide women's push for the creation of a special fund to support women in politics on Thursday. The campaign is reportedly drumming up support for the creation of more seats for women representatives to attain the two-thirds rule in the House. The Star reports that Duale is opposed to the idea. He says "men may be disadvantaged in future, if women are given special treatment to get into leadership".

The Johannesburg Star

The paper headlines that "South Africans are saying 'no, thanks' to free electricity", despite the fact that electricity prices are going up every year. The newspaper quotes the national electricity provider Eskom as saying that households entitled to the monthly free basic electricity allocation aren’t all collecting their tokens. According to Eskom, out of the over one million households that qualify for the free basic electricity tokens, in 2015, just over 900,000 consumed the 50 kilowatt hours a month tokens.

The Star says South Africa's Department of Energy lists the allocation of 50kWh as enough for basic lighting, using a small black-and-white TV, a small radio, basic ironing and basic water boiling through an electric kettle.

Times Live

The head of the public SABC broadcaster Hlaudi Motsoeneng has ordered an investigation into the origin of a fake Twitter account using his name. South Africa's Times Live reports that messages posted to the account of Motsoeneng (a staunch supporter and crony of President Jacob Zuma) went viral online. The issue, the paper explains, had to do with whether or not the SABC would be covering the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters launch of the political manifesto for upcoming local elections.The EFF is led by Julius Malema, a sworn enemy to Zuma who is leading an opposition campaign in parliament to secure the impeachment of the ANC leader over the" Nkandlagate" affair. 

The operators of the fake account twitted back saying "the SABC would instead be playing a re-run of Sarafina". That's Darrell Roodt's acclaimed movie on South African teenagers who fought against apartheid in the Soweto Uprising, starring the likes of Whoopi Goldberg and Miriam Makeba.

Times says the controversial twitter account also went viral over another fake post: the  SABC's alleged announcement of an exclusive book and broadcast rights to the story of President Zuma and his life of service, purportedly titled "The Long Walk to Nkandla". Times says the users of the fake account finally owned up to the parody although their identities have not been disclosed.

Daily Post

The Nigerian army has paraded a fake army colonel arrested by the Nigerian soldiers manning a Lagos checkpoint. Colonel Prince Onyemauche was travelling with three serving soldiers in a military. Nigeria's Daily Post says the pick-up van painted in military colours was loaded with an AK47 rifle and four magazines, with 42 rounds of ammunition. According to the paper, the fake army officer armed with a Luger pistol, had in his possession six cell phones, 12 cheque booklets, six SIM cards with one million Naira in bank notes (4,000 euros) in his briefcase.