African press review 4 December 2017

The race for the presidency of South Africa's ruling ANC enters a crucial phase this week, with Cyril Ramaphosa and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma still neck and neck. The South African National Prosecuting Authority chooses a Jacob Zuma appointee to lead the Jacob Zuma fraud case. And why has Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Africa three times in the past 18 months?

The race for the presidency of South Africa's ruling ANC enters its final phase this week, the Johannesburg-based financial paper BusinessDay points out.

The report says the focus will now swing to individual voting delegates and away from the branches of South Africa's ruling party in a tight race that could go either way between Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and MP Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

Both camps set about tallying their delegate numbers over the weekend.

Following the provincial general councils, the branch nominations have Ramaphosa on 1,278 votes and Dlamini-Zuma on 800.

BusinessDay explains that the will of the branches could be subverted through candidates paying off voting delegates who will cast their secret ballots at the ANC’s 54th national conference, which takes place in Gauteng in two weeks’ time.

Zuma appointee to lead Zuma investigation

We now know who will lead the prosecution in investigating corruption charges against South African president Jacob Zuma.

BusinessDay reports that the KwaZulu-Natal director of public prosecutions Moipone Noko will head the National Prosecuting Authority’s team.

Noko was appointed to her position in 2013 by Zuma, despite reportedly being investigated for maladministration, favouritism and abuse of her office. In the past decade the NPA has been accused of protecting Zuma and Noko’s history could, says the Johannesburg daily, create a perception that she is sympathetic to the president.

Authority boss Shaun Abrahams gave Zuma until Thursday to argue why he should not be charged after the Supreme Court of Appeal upheld a high court judgment that the 2009 decision to drop charges against him had been irrational. The president is facing 783 counts of fraud, corruption, racketeering, money laundering and tax evasion.

The special police anti-corruption unit, the Hawks, were given the same deadline by the court to find out how many of the 218 witnesses in the eight-year-old case are still available.

Israel’s hidden Africa agenda

Regional paper the East African uses the attendance of Jewish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at last week's swearing-in of Uhuru Kenyatta in Nairobi to reveal what the daily calls "Israel’s hidden Africa agenda".

Netanyahu is described as the "trophy guest" so badly needed by Kenyatta to shore up his personal credibility after victory in a twice-run election, boycotted by the opposition.

While the Kenyan president's entourage characterised Netanyahu’s visit as emblematic of the cordial relations between the two leaders and their people, the inauguration also afforded the Israeli prime minister an opportunity to interact with almost a dozen African leaders who were attending the swearing-in ceremony.

The trip was the Israeli prime minister’s third to Africa in 18 months.

Israel will, of course, need a lot of African support for its bid to get onto the United Nations Security Council in 2019.

Opposition still hopes to oust Kenyatta

Meanwhile, the Standard in Kenya reports that the opposition National Super Alliance (Nasa) will continue pushing for reforms and ensure that Kenyatta is removed from power. The alliance maintained that it would continue with its "resist and boycott" agenda until their grievances were addressed.

Nasa leader Raila Odinga blamed Uhuru for destroying the country by using police officers to kill opposition supporters. Nasa maintains it does not recognise Uhuru’s government.

The opposition chief claims that the ruling Jubilee Party had threatened the judiciary and manipulated the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to ensure their victory.

Ugandan forced into second by Norwegian

A smiling Stephen Kiprotich tops the front page of the Ugandan Daily Monitor.

Kiprotich, a Ugandan national, finished second in yesterday's Fukuoka Marathon.

The 2012 Olympic gold medalist registered a time of 2:07:10, while Norway's Sondre Moen won in a new European record of 2:05:48 and in the process became the first person born outside of Africa to break 2:06 on a record-eligible course.