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African press review 11 April 2014

Was Jesus Christ married? Did Abacha's son rob Nigeria? Has Mugabe slandered Nigerians? And are white people lying about Jacob Zuma?

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American researchers have shocked Christians with findings that an ancient piece of papyrus containing a mention of Jesus having a wife is not a forgery.

South Africa’s Mail and Guardian reports that the scientific analysis published on Thursday in the Harvard Theological Review was carried out by researchers at the Universities of Columbia, Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

According to the paper, the findings the fragment believed to have been discovered in Egypt in 2012 contain writing in the Coptic language that says, "Jesus said to them, 'My wife ...' " adding that another part reads: "She will be able to be my disciple."

It claims that they are bound to cause a stir, considering that Christian tradition has long held that Jesus was not married. The Vatican's newspaper had declared the papyrus a fake, the Mail and Guardian reports, and other scholars doubted its authenticity because of its poor grammar, blurred text and uncertain origin. The Mail and Guardian believes the findings are certain to renew long-running debates over celibacy and the role of women in the church.

The Nigerian Tribune is more preoccupied with the discovery of a new horde of Abacha loot: after the federal government announced on Thursday that the late dictator’s son Mohammed received a staggering 1.9 billion euros, allegedly stolen from government coffers between 1995 and 1998. Mohammed faces nine counts of graft, including charges of concealing 141 million pounds (170 euros) and 384 million dollars (273 million euros) in cash and travellers' cheques discovered in his possession.

You will probably find it strange then that the Nigerian press has reacted angrily to remarks credited to Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe that Nigerians as very corrupt people.

Punch reports that the federal government on Thursday summoned the Zimbabwean Head of Chancery in Abuja, Stanley Kunjeku, to formally lodge a complaint over remarks. The Permanent Secretary at Nigeria’s foreign ministry, Martin Uhomoibhi, described Mugabe’s comment “un-statesmanly, vitriolic and denigrating on Nigeria and Nigerians”.

Vanguard notes that Mugabe made the remarks during his recent 90th birthday luncheon, hosted by the service chiefs and the Public Commission. It publishes the exact quote for the record: Zimbabweans he said “are now almost behaving like Nigerians who, according to him, have to be corruptly paid for every service”.

A comment posted on the Guardian website lists the number of times the paper has headlined on graft in Nigeria. These include its cover stories on the uncovering of one billion Naira pension fraud"; "Police Recovery of a 6.5 billion Naira Oil Subsidy scam"; "a 24 billion Naira Police Pension Fraud" and the "US Release of a Damaging Report on Widespread Corruption in Nigeria". It wonders what Mugabe said that is different, when corruption has become Nigeria’s national anthem.

In Kenya the Daily Nation has news about Kenyans' own troubles with graft, as details of corruption in the judiciary emerged on Thursday. A contactor received about 380,000 euros to build courts at Mavoko, Machakos County but work never started, it reports.

Every one seems to have his load of graft problems including South Africa, where the press is piling pressure on President Jacob Zuma following the spending of 16 million euros to upgrade security at his private family home at Nkandla. City Press reports that Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande has described news articles about the president’s Nkandla homestead as “white people’s lies”.

This is as Mail and Guardian reports that Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa has unveiled plans to remove over 1,000 police officers with criminal records from the South African Police Service.

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