African press review 15 July 2017

Ex-president Thabo Mbeki causes a stir in an interview blasting ANC foes who plotted his ouster. Nigerian nursing mother sells her baby for half a bag of rice and an Ibadan businesswoman stages her abduction, to extort money from her husband.

We begin in South Africa where several publications carry excerpts from a rare interview by former President Thabo Mbeki addressing the circumstances of his controversial removal from office after the 2007 ANC elective conference in Polokwane.

In an interview with the popular Johannesburg Power FM, Mbeki accused opponents and fake news peddlers within the ANC of plotting his defeat by Jacob Zuma.

He dismissed charges made at the time that he had abused state resources to target political opponents, describing them as bogus.

Saturday Independent says it was the first time Mbeki addressed his painful defeat in an interview adding that 10 years after his defeat Mbeki was still as bitter as ever.

According to the paper even though he admitted that his relationship with his former enemies had thawed, he didn't stop him from criticizing a “lack of cohesion” in Zuma’s government, which he described as a “confederation of ministries”.

The Sowetan says the interview is causing a stir in South Africa, especially his criticism of the concept of ‘white monopoly capital’ rejected by majority at ANC policy conference in Johannesburg.

The paper says that the ruling party's leaders are irritated by a warning to the party's chiefs and society to refrain from being driven by popular and sexists slogans that are not based on facts.

And in Nigeria Punch picks up a shocking story trending on social media. It's about a young Nigerian mother who sold her two month old son, for a half bag of rice, three chairs, cement and the sum of N200,000 , (about 554 euros).

The paper says that the 20 year old native of Imo State was paraded alongside her accomplices by police in the state capital Owerri on Friday, after she confessed to investigators that and the circumstances of her pregnancy led her into the crime.

And even more shocking is the saga of a Nigerian housewife, arrested by the Oyo State Police for allegedly staging her own kidnap with the intention of extorting money from her American husband who recently relocated in the United States.

According to the Nigerian Tribune the 37 year old businesswoman based in Ibadan conspired with at least 12 people including relatives and a notorious gang in the scam.

The paper quotes the Ibadan Police chief as saying that the women and her accomplices were demanding a ransom of 10 million Naira (approximately 27,000 euros) for the woman's release.