African press review 13 August 2016

As votes continue to be counted, one of Zambia's top papers continues to express concern over poor candidate choices. Thousands of refugees cross into Uganda following increasing violence in South Sudan. And a deal is struck between South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers and Eskom, ending a week-long strike.

In an editorial written by the paper’s editor, The Zambia Post showed no confidence in any of the candidates in Zambia’s first ever post-independence presidential and parliamentary elections on Thursday.

The strongly worded editorial states that ‘too many false promises’ have been made by candidates, comparing them to sly magicians as opposed to proper politicians.

The Post argues that candidates have failed to explain how they would follow through with their campaign promises, leaving the paper concerned about the future for the country torn by debt, poverty and sharp inequality.

Votes are still being counted. However, latest polls show current President Edgar Lungu's Patriotic Front taking a narrow lead over the main opposition challenger Haikainde Hichilema's United Party for National Development.

The Post has faced a series of challenges with the current government. In June, the paper's newsroom and other operation offices was put on a lockdown by the government in an attempt to silence the paper from criticising the government.

Amnesty International highly criticised the decision, calling it a deliberate attempt to silence the media in the run up to the elections.
 

Hundreds of thousands flee South Sudan into Uganda. But can the country handle the surge in refugees?

The East African reports that around 110,000 people have fled to Uganda from South Sudan this year, with the majority escaping a new breakout of fighting last month. The paper cited a report from the The UN refugee agency, in which the agency said it was 'extremely worried' about escalating violence in South Sudan, and that it was concerned neighbouring countries are ill equipped to take in new refugees.

Nearly 82,000 of those who have crossed the border in 2016 have done so in the past five weeks alone.

90 per cent of those who have fled to Uganda are women and children, which the UNHCR says are being targeted in robberies and sexual assaults.

South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers reach wage deal.

According to South Africa's Business Day, the country's National Union of Mineworkers has ended a week long strike after signing a wage deal with the state-owned utility company Eskom.

The dispute was the latest in a series of setbacks for Eskom, which has struggled to meet power demands throughout the country, which is on the brink of a recession.

The union struck a two year wage deal with Eskom, which grants the lowest paid workers a 10 per cent wage increase, while other employees will receive an 8.5 per cent increase.

The paper warned, however, that the strikes risk further hurting the economy, which is on the verge of its first recession in seven years.

The Reserve Bank has predicted no economic growth this year, following a series of severe droughts and falling commodity prices.