African press review 4 July 2016

Kenyan lawyers stage week-long boycott of courts in suspected extrajudicial executions by police that have stunned the country.

DR

We begin in Kenya where the press provides robust coverage of week-long boycott of the courts declared by lawyers "to press demands for the prosecution of police officers suspected of abducting and killing a lawyer, his client and a taxi driver.

Daily Nation

According to the newspaper, lawyer Willie Kimani, his client Josphat Mwenda and their taxi driver Joseph Muiruri, were abducted by unknown men on June 23 as they left a courtroom in Mavoko and their bodies were discovered in a river in Machakos a week later.

The Nation reports that the lawyer's client Mwenda had earlier accused a Kenyan police officer of shooting him in the hand while trying to arrest him, in a case was still pending in court.

Standard Digital

The publication says it expects the boycott to paralyse court operations across the country. Standard reports that the three men suspected to have carried out the murders are due to appear in court today to face murder charges.

The Star

The South Africa publication reports about "boiling tensions" at the Beit Bridge, the  crossing on the border with Zimbabwe, following the decision by President Robert Mugabe's government to ban the importing of basic South African goods.

According to the newspaper, residents of Beit Bridge burnt down a Zimbabwean operated warehouse full of confiscated goods and vehicles adding that traders were barred from crossing into South Africa since last Friday.

The Star also reports that South African reacted by blockading the border and turning back all trucks and other vehicles carrying goods from Zimbabwe.

The newspaper says tensions emerged after Harare tried to force Zimbabweans to buy locally to spur the local economy and employment. But as it explains, residents refused to abide by the measures on grounds that many of the banned goods are either not available locally or too expensive.

The Standard

Meanwhile, the Standard reports that Zimbabwe has placed National security commanders on high alert, to prevent the unrest in Beitbridge from "posing a threat to national security".

The Standard quotes the country's deputy Home Affairs minister Obedingwa Mguni as saying that the protests in Beitbridge were politically-motivated given the fact that they were taking place when the country was witnessing the mushrooming of demonstrations for various reasons.

These are the first riots to cause the closure of the border post since its establishment in 1929 when the Alfred Beitbridge linking South Africa and Zimbabwe was opened, according to the Zimbabwean Standard.

Vanguard

The Nigerian newspaper investigates the ordeal of a nursing mother of triplets who was allegedly detained in a Lagos hospital for seven weeks over her inability to settle her maternity bills worth 381 euros.

According to the Vanguard, the case of Gloria Okorie, aged 27, caused a stir in the economic capital after it emerged that one of the premature babies died, due to a shortage of incubators at the facility. The paper also reports that the proprietor of the Agege hospital only resolved to let the woman go, after after several sympathizers started turning up at the hospital to settle the bill.