Skip to main content

African press review 25 March 2017

Sceptism in South Africa as "key man" denies any role in bizarre burglary at South Africa's Supreme Court handling graft cases.

Advertising

We start in South Africa where the papers report a major development in the strange burglary at the offices of the country's chief justice in Midrand.

The Sowetan quotes South Africa's police chief Lieutenant-General Khomotso Phahlane as saying that the man critical to the investigation into the robbery of 15 computers at the building last weekend handed himself in on Friday.

The Times has an exclusive interview with the man known as Nkosinathi Msimango whose two brothers were already arrested in connection with the robbery. Msimango told the paper he handed himself over to the police to clear his name explaining that he had no idea about the burglary‚ the suspects or the motive for the crime.

BusinessDay
says suspicions that the break-in at the offices of Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng was no ordinary burglary have grown since the Supreme Court is investigating several top government officials in relation with a series of suspected graft scandals.

To Nigeria now where Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun, has commended the contribution of whistle blowers in the Buhari administration's fight against corruption.

Punch publishes a statement from the minister asserting that her department had received more than 2,250 reports and tip offs about stolen funds, others reports through the whistle-blower website it set up.

According to the paper, the tips provided by members of the public include cases of contract inflation, the conversion of government assets to personal use, ghost workers, the embezzlement of salaries of terminated personnel, and the diversion of resources budgeted to promote small-scale farming by country side folk.

Also from Nigeria, Premium Times leads with plans by the military to organize this year's small arms championship known as NASA in the Sambisa forest which used to be the main lair of Boko Haram insurgents.

According to the paper, the Nigerian Army's chief of training and operations Major General David Ahmdou an area the 20 square km around the forest had been fortified to prevent any form of attacks by the Islamist terrorist organization ahead of the annual NASA games which begin on Monday.

He said the essence of this year’s competition is to make Sambisa forest safe for habitation and military activities. Primium Times reports that the General reassured newsmen on Friday that the Nigerian army's corps of engineers has started building roads and culverts around the vast Sambisa forest reserve to make it safe for human activities.

And in Kenya, Daily Nation tells the happy go lucky story of a Sierra Leone pastor who discovered one of the largest diamond ever found after praying for five years so God can help him make money to raise his family.

According to the newspaper, the dream of the 39-year-old evangelical preacher with the Deeper Life Church in Kono, who acquired a mining license in his community in 2012 came true when he and workers dug out a 706 carat gem on March 13 from a pit in the village of Koryadu.

Daily Nation says Momoh's diamond said to be one of the 15 largest gems ever found worldwide is due to go on sale in Freetown in April then in Hong Kong in May, with experts predicting that it could fetch up to 57 million euros.

The publication wonders how much the "man of God", would get from the discovery, after he decided to hand the treasure over to local authorities.
 

Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning

Keep up to date with international news by downloading the RFI app

Share :
Page not found

The content you requested does not exist or is not available anymore.