African press review 2 August 2012

South Africa's financial paper, BusinessDay, reports that security guards shot and killed three people during an invasion of an Aquarius Platinum mine near Rustenburg, about 40 kilometres from Cape Town, on Wednesday.

Aquarius recently suspended two mining operations because of weak platinum prices, high costs and operational difficulties.

Following a protest at the Kwezi shaft at Aquarius’s Kroondal mine, three people died of wounds sustained from buckshot allegedly fired by security guards. Another 20 were wounded.

Yesterday's protest was organised following the dismissal of 260 workers by a mining contractor who claimed the sacked personnel had taken part in an illegal strike.

The Star in Johannesburg reports on tragic events in Ogbadibo, Nigeria, under the headline "Man dies as five wives demand sex".

According to the South African newspaper, a wealthy businessman - and husband of six - died after allegedly being forced into a marathon sex session with his “jealous” wives.

Nigerian Uroko Onoja was having sex with the youngest of his spouses when the remaining five are reported to have set upon him with knives and sticks – and demanded that he have sex with each of them too.

Onoja faced a difficult situation with great valour, and dealt with four of his wives in succession. Tragically, The Star reports, the unfortunate man stopped breathing as the fifth missus was making her way to his bed. He never started breathing again. May he rest in peace.

Two women have been arrested following the incident in the state of Benue.

In Nairobi, The Standard reports that the Kenyan government has formed a national task force to avert a possible spread of ebola from Uganda.

The Director of Public Health announced the formation of the team yesterday, adding that all health workers have been put on high alert.

On Wednesday, a local member of parliament claimed that a case of ebola has been reported in Siaya, in Nyanza Province, 30 kilometres from the Ugandan border.

Dossier: Sharia wars - Boko Haram v the military in northern Nigeria

He demanded a ministerial statement on the issue, saying Kenya needed to be alerted.

In Uganda itself, The Daily Monitor reports two more ebola deaths, and a strike by patients suspected of having the disease.

According to the Kampala daily, the two deaths, recorded at Kagadi Hospital in Kibaale District, bring the total number of dead to 16 since the outbreak began in July.

The Daily Monitor also says that it took the intervention of the police to quell patients at the Kagadi isolation facility on Tuesday. They were protesting alleged neglect.

The patients, complaining about shortages of food and clean water, reportedly stormed out of the isolation facility in the afternoon, sending health workers scampering.

According to the main story in today's Daily Nation, the Kenyan electoral commission has promised to take measures to eliminate fraud during the next election. This latest statement comes in the wake of yesterday's decision by the commission to shelve plans to use a biometric voter registration system.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission on Wednesday dropped plans to buy equipment which uses fingerprints and facial imagery to identify voters.

The commission now plans to register 18 million voters manually.

According to regional paper, The East African, the teachers’ strike in Tanzania drew a storm of protests on Tuesday, with pupils in Dar es Salaam taking to the streets to insist on their right to be taught.

Police had to step in and disperse the children, who marched to government offices and asked the authorities to find an immediate solution to the crisis on a day that also saw four teachers in Mbeya charged with inciting their colleagues to stage a boycott.The strike is in support of a demand for increased salaries.

Police used tear gas to disperse the angry primary school pupils gathered at the regional commissioner’s office.

The Labour Division of the High Court will rule later today on whether or not the strike is legal after the government sought a court injunction.