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African press review 4 June 2014

Al-Sisi's declared the winner in Egypt. The SA economy is not doing that badly, a banker claims. Nigeria's new central bank governor will have a tough job defending the naira. A Nigerian minister is accused of stirring up divisions. 

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It's official: Egypt's former defence minister, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, is the country's new president. According to official results reported in this morning's Cairo-based Egypt Independent, Sisi garnered nearly 97 per cent of all votes cast.

The same paper offers to explain why there were no queues outside polling stations during the recent presidential ballot, which was extended to a third day after it became clear that fewer than eight per cent of voters had exercised their right to vote on the first two days.

According to the head of the High Elections Committee, the reasons there were no queues of voters in the presidential election of 2014 were because the number of electoral sub-committees had been dramatically increased and modern technology was used to facilitate the voting process.

Many in the government have cited a heatwave for the low turnout. International observers criticised the environment of political repression in which the elections were held, causing voters to perceive Sisi as the inevitable winner.

The defeated candidate, Hamdeen Sabbahi, says fewer than 10 per cent of Egyptians bother to vote.

Recent disappointing economic data do not mean South Africa is headed towards recession, according to Reserve Bank governor Gill Marcus.

There would have to be dramatic decreases in several key economic indicators for a recession to occur, she said at a monetary policy forum in Pretoria last night. Marcius did, however, admit that the bank is seriously concerned about weak growth. The story is top of the front page of this morning's Johannesburg-based finacial paper, BusinessDay.

South Africa's economic growth contracted by more than half a percentage point in the first quarter, mainly as a result of the costly, 19-week wage strike at platinum mines. That dispute curbed mining and manufacturing production in the first three months of the year.

Some analysts are already forecasting another contraction for the second quarter, given that the strike is continuing. The definition of recession is two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth.

There's no immediate sign of an end to the platinum sector dispute with Mineral Resources Minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi yesterday remaining tight-lipped over the contents of letter from the striking union responding to the most recent proposal put forward by the government aimed at ending the strike.

BusinessDay also looks to Lagos, reporting that Nigeria’s new central bank chief Godwin Emefiele took office yesterday with the immediate task of protecting a weak naira.

With government spending expected to rise ahead of next year’s presidential election, the new governor will have no room to let up on monetary policy and will have to raise interest rates at some point over the next year, according to BusinessDay's analysis.

Emefiele’s appointment follows the departure of governor Lamido Sanusi, a vocal critic of the government’s record on tackling corruption who was suspended by President Goodluck Jonathan in February.

His removal raised concerns about the bank’s independence.

Emefiele, says BusinessDay, will be closely watched by markets fearful of government interference at the bank.

Nigeria is currently spending the equivalent of 40 million euros every day to support the naira.

In Lagos, The Guardian reports that the new Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria will give his inaugural news conference tomorrow, at which he is expected to unveil his agenda and approach to controlling and administering the nation’s monetary and financial policies.

Local commentators point to Godwin Emefiele's 20-year career in the commercial banking sector and have urged him to promote greater transparency and accountability at Nigeria's central bank.

Nigeria's Punch daily newspaper reports that the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties yesterday took issue with Information Minister Labaran Maku, accusing him of promoting division along ethnic, religious and political lines.

The opposition organisation said the minister must be prepared to accept responsibility for any crisis that could result from his sustained campaign of divisive comments and hate speech.

The opposition group further advised the Federal Government to “consider making changes at the Ministry of Information especially in view of the challenges the country currently faces.”

The Conference of Nigeria Political Parties was reacting to a comment credited to the minister on national television in which he accused the opposition of sponsoring the Bring Back Our Girls protests.

The group noted that Maku was ignoring the fact that the security situation in the country had gone beyond the apportioning of blame.

The group says Maku must not drag political parties into the crises bedeviling the country since it is now apparent that Nigeria is fighting a fully fledged insurgency war that had been shown to have no ethnic, religious or political discrimination in the selection of its targets.

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