African press review 23 February 2017

Today's look at the African press covers news from South Africa to Gambia to Zimbabwe.

South Africa's High Court has ruled that the government's plan to withdraw from the International Criminal Court is unconstitutional and invalid because the decision was taken without Parliamentary approval.

So, what do the country's newspapers make of this?

The Mail and Guardian reports the news soberly quoting Judge Phineas
Mojapelo's dismissal of the government argument that "it was the
executive’s prerogative to enter into, and withdraw from, treaties the
country had signed and that Parliament only needed to give its
approval."

The judge ruled that it was expected that the executive go back to
Parliament. "We have rights, we have obligations, and we have
Parliament,” he said, adding that decisions executed by the executive
must be “on the basis of the expressed authority of the Constitution”.

The popular paper The Sowetan meanwhile stages an online poll to find out what
it readers think.

54 percent said that "At last sanity prevails!"

15 percent said, "Bad move - the ICC is anti-Africa." A view shared by
the South African government and others elsewhere in Africa.

And, 31 percent wondered, "What does the ICC do anyway?"

Business Day says, "The government was handed another rebuke from the
High Court in Pretoria on Wednesday when it was ordered to revoke its
notice to withdraw from the Rome Statute, which established the
International Criminal Court."

Business Day says the opposition Democratic Alliance said the court’s
judgement vindicated the party, which from the beginning argued that
the government’s decision to withdraw from the ICC was
unconstitutional.

The ANC could not be reached for comment, the paper says.

So, what happens next? The papers don't tell us.

I guess the familiar ping-pong between the executive and the courts is
set to continue.

The headline news in Gambia is the arrest and detention of two senior
officials of the former National Intelligence Agency.

The Point reports that Yankuba Badjie, the former director general of
the agency, and Sheikh Omar Jeng, former Director of Operations, were
detained on Monday arrested.

Police confirmed the arrests.

The paper quotes security sources as saying they are interrogating
them in connection with allegations of human rights abuses during the
former regime.

The pair were sacked on 2 February, part of the dismantling of the
dictatorial regime of former President Yaya Jammeh by new President
Adama Barrow.

Freedom newspaper is more up to the minute reporting breaking news
that four NIA officials suspected to have been complicit in the death
of Ebrima Solo Sandeng, have been taken into custody.

Sandeng, an official of the main opposition United Democratic Party,
was tortured to death while under NIA custody in April of last year.
Other UDP supporters were also tortured, and raped.

Freedom newspaper notes that "the men are currently helping the police
with their investigations. No charges have been filed against the
detainees as yet."

The Point, meanwhile, addresses another key issue : what happened to the money?

In an editorial headlined "We are alarmed!" the paper says the former
regime had left behind debts the equivalent of one billion euros, as
indicated in a report presented to the media yesterday by the finance
ministry.

What is alarming, The Point says, is the manner in which the funds
were withdrawn and what they were spent on that leaves a lot to be
desired.

“The destinations of our financial resources must be traced,” it declares.

Good luck with that!

The Zimbabwean, which is edited and published outside the country, a
newspaper in exile, as it were, carries what it calls a "weekly alert"
on Human Rights Violations in Zimbabwe's hot spot areas.

The latest, published yesterday, cites 31 violations in the first half
of February, each meticulously detailed.

They include threats of violence, forced contributions and attendance
at political gatherings and partisan distribution of food aid.

The forced financial contributions include those to pay for the
birthday celebrations of President Robert Mugabe.

For those who missed it, Mugabe was 93 on Tuesday this week.

The cost of the party is estimated at more than 2 million euros.

Last week, Grace Mugabe, his wife, said her husband should run “as a
corpse” in next year’s election if he dies before the vote.

You couldn't make it up.