African press review 6 July 2011

Walking to work, sitting down to strike, football and the Olympics, there's a lot of physical exercise in the African papers today....

The Star reports that the South African National Editors' Forum on Tuesday requested a meeting with Police Minister, Nathi Mthethwa, to discuss the intimidation of journalists.

Last weekend, The Sunday Times reported that two of its journalists, Mzilikazi Wa Africa and Stephan Hofstatter, were being intimidated.

Wa Africa said he was tipped-off by sources close to South Africa's intelligence services that he was “a marked man” and that “hitmen had been hired”.

The newspaper said it started providing extra security for the two men when it became aware, earlier this year, that their movements and their telephone calls were being monitored.

Wa Africa said in a sworn statement last week that he had been the victim of two threatening encounters and was warned in December that he would be killed by hitmen wearing police uniforms.

Journalists are also in the news in Sudan. A lawyer says a Sudanese court has sentenced a journalist to one month in prison for reporting on a rape.

Hassan al-Hussein says journalist Fatima Ghazai was charged on Tuesday with spreading false news and causing discord.

Ghazai was fined 522 euros and then given a one-month prison term when she refused to pay.

Ghazai reported that a Sudanese woman was raped by Sudanese security forces in January.

At least five other journalists from different media outlets are expected to stand trial for reporting the same story.

On a happier note, South African President Jacob Zuma will have lunch today with royal newlyweds Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene of Monaco.

The couple arrived in Charlene's home country on Tuesday for the annual session of the International Olympic Committee, of which Albert is a member.

Zuma's office said he would host the royal newlyweds for lunch in Durban, the eastern port city where the IOC is holding its annual general meeting to decide the host city for the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Still in South Africa, the Star reports that the Democratic Alliance in KwaZulu-Natal has welcomed the government’s decision to introduce performance assessment for school principals and their deputies.

The opposition party supports any initiative aimed at holding leadership in schools accountable for improving the delivery of a quality education, according to Alliance provincial education spokesperson, Tom Stokes.

He said the key to improved results lay with improved teacher quality and performance.

The Herald in Zimbabwe gives headline honours to Fifa president Sepp Blatter who flew out of Harare yesterday, leaving behind a Zimbabwean football community with a spring in its step, with prospects of a bright future powered by funds and technical expertise from world soccer's controlling body.

The organisation's representatives in Southern Africa yesterday hailed the visit, the first-ever by a Fifa chief, and said Zimbabwean football would never be the same again.

In Uganda, the Daily Monitor tells us that opposition Forum for Democratic Change leader, Dr Kizza Besigye, has announced that he will not contest the national presidency in 2016.

Dr Besigye, whose second term as FDC party president expires in 2014, also confirmed that he would not seek to extend his leadership of the party.

Dr Besigye has been President Museveni’s main political rival over the last decade and leading challenger for the presidency in the last three elections.

We've had the walk to work campaign. Now traders in Kampala have unanimously decided to hold a two-day sit-down-strike over what they say is government reluctance to respond effectively to the rising value of foreign currencies over the Uganda Shilling.

On Wednesday and Thursday, shops and other businesses will remain closed, according to the Kampala City Traders Association. The move is aimed at drawing the attention of government to the traders’ demands.

The traders say the Uganda Revenue Authority insists that they pay certain taxes using the US dollar, despite its inflated rate relative to the shilling.