African press review 8 August 2016

Post-election throwbacks to rape allegations against South African President Jacob Zuma, posturing over who should hold responsibility for the ANC's worst electoral performance since the end of apartheid and Africa's so far ordinary performance at the Olympics dominate the African dailies.

The Mail & Guardian reports protests which it says "shook the election results ceremony" after last week's local elections in South Africa.

"Placards making reference to Jacob Zuma's 2006 rape case overshadow ANC leader's speech" is the punchy headline.

What started as a traditional voting announcement, soon became an occasion where Zuma was eclipsed by four placard-waving women who were violently removed from the event by the presidential security it reports.

The four women, dressed in black, stood before the podium as Zuma made his speech.

"Nobody listened to the president but instead the crowd was drawn to the young protesters and the words on their posters," the paper writes - words referring to the woman Zuma was accused of raping a decade ago.

The posters read: “I am 1 in 3” - referring to statistics indicating that one in three women in South Africa are sexually abused, “10 years later” and “Remember Khwezi”, the name of the woman.

"When asked why the women were crying, the security refused to answer and instead told journalists to leave," says the paper.

Doubts over Pistorius self-harm

The Mail & Guardian also reports on the new controversy surrounding convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius, who, according to his brother Carl, did not deliberately hurt himself in prison but slipped in his cell.

The comments from Pistorius's family follow reports yesterday of him being rushed to hospital with cuts to his wrists "after self-harming in prison".

The Paralympic gold medalist was sentenced to six years in July for murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp by shooting her at his home in 2012.

#WhereIsZuma tweets go wild

More amusingly the paper reports that South Africa's Twitterati have been busy with the #WhereIsZuma tag, "speculating hilariously" on the president's whereabouts since the elections. 

While some thought he "has retreated from the public for some introspection", others "reckoned he is unfazed by the results and enjoying himself after campaigning". The latter tweet was accompanied by a picture showing a beaming president holding a wad of money in a bookmakers.

SA elections: Zuma referendum or ANC referendum?

South Africa's Cape Times in an opinion column warns "Beware the urge to scapegoat Zuma" after the ANC's worst electoral performance since the end of apartheid.

"Jacob Zuma is a product of the ANC and the party should be embarrassed about what transpired at the polls," writes Eusebius McKaiser, a political and social analyst at the Wits Centre for Ethics.

It would be "convenient but also very disingenuous for some factions in the ANC to use the sizeable decline in its share of the vote in the local elections to lash President Jacob Zuma," he continues.

Nonetheless, he says, "Zuma’s ruinous leadership" is probably "partly, or massively, responsible for the hammering the ANC has taken across the country. The elections were surely in part a referendum on Zuma’s leadership."

But more than that he says they were a referendum on the ANC, "and what the electorate makes of the quality, or lack thereof, of the ANC's leadership."

On the other hand in an analysis column Craig Dodds saysthat, while not all the blame can be laid at Zuma’s door, "the ANC has paid the price for his presidency".

Fatalities for Nigerian troops

Nigeria's Premium Times reports that at least 11 soldiers have been killed in clashes with bandits in the central region.

The Nigerian army troops also killed eight suspected bandits and arrested 57 others during a shootout in parts of Bosso local government area of Niger state according to officials.

Africa at the Olympics

Finally, Olympic news also preoccupy the African dailies with Punch reporting on Nigeria's U-23 football team win over Sweden, to qualify for quarterfinals event after a 1-0 victory.

And The Sunday Independent declaring "The drought is over!" after Cameron van der Burgh "broke the duck" in its words for Team South Africa by clinching a silver medal in the 100m breaststroke final.

"Van der Burgh improved sizeably from his semi-final effort to finish second in 58.69 seconds," the paper says but it concedes "he was never going to challenge British star Adam Peaty for gold as the 21-year-old from Derby in England clocked an incredible new world record time of 57.13."