African press review 2 December 2014

Marks out of ten for South Africa's president and his team, Mubarak's acquittal in Egypt and animals being stolen from national parks in Zimbabwe - all in today's papers around Africa.

South African president, Jacob Zuma, has not had a good year according to the opposition party Democratic Alliance (DA).

The DA yesterday published its annual ratings of South Africa's top politicians, giving poor old Zuma one out of ten. The story is in this morning's Johannesburg-based financial paper, BusinessDay.

Joining Zuma at the bottom of the class is Communications Minister Faith Muthambi, who the Democratic Alliance says is at the centre of the president’s bid to turn the state communications apparatus into a propaganda machine. Also on one out of ten are Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel, blamed by the DA for the economy policy confusion plaguing government; and Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson for pushing ahead with the "disastrous" nuclear building programme and stalling on the development of the gas and renewable energy industries.

Top spot goes to Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor with 8/10 because, according to the Democratic Alliance, her department is well-managed, targets are set and reached and there is a clear strategy to increase research and development.

The lacklustre performance by President Jacob Zuma and most members of his bloated Cabinet had contributed to the general deterioration in South Arica, Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane said yesterday.

African National Congress chief whip Stone Sizani dismissed the ranking index as a publicity stunt saying it was too subjective, illogical and flawed for anyone to take seriously.

BusinessDay also reports that global jitters following poor manufacturing data from China and the eurozone, along with the downgrade of Japan’s sovereign credit rating by Moody’s, triggered widespread panic-selling of stocks on Monday, which some analysts believe was excessive.

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange suffered its biggest single day fall in four-and-a-half years, with resource shares particularly badly hit.

The main story in the Egypt Independent has the American analyst Max Fisher commenting on the acquittal of former President Hosni Mubarak. Fisher says Mubarak was acquitted on murder charges because politics favoured his release, and it is politics, according to Fisher, - not the rule of law - that guided this case from the beginning.

Fisher, a former staff journalist at The Washington Post, says that the small number of people who gathered to protest against the acquittal of Mubarak, compared to the hundreds of thousands who protested to demand his ouster less than four years ago, showed that the public in Egypt has been muted by the secular authoritarianism of current president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

There are more violent deaths on the front page of the Kenyan Standard.

According to the Nairobi-based daily's website, at least 36 quarry workers were killed earlier this morning by suspected al-Shebab militants in the Koromei area of Mandera County.

The workers were attacked as they slept. Other reports say the attackers kidnapped some of the workers. All the victims are non-Muslims. Those who were Muslims were separated from Christians.

Police have confirmed the deaths. The attack came hours after another group launched an attack on a club in Wajir that left one person dead and 13 wounded.

The co-chairman of the opposition Coalition for Reforms and Democracy, Moses Wetangula, yesterday called on the leaders of the Jubilee government to resign because they have failed to tackle insecurity.

Speaking during the burial of one of the victims of an earlier Mandera attack, Wetangula said that despite the spate of insecurity, government officials continue to issue public relations statements.

Harare independent newspaper NewsDay reports a claim by the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force that nominally protected animals are being stolen from Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park, and sent to zoos in China.

The group says 34 baby elephants, seven lions and 10 sable antelopes have been rounded up for shipping to China.

More than 300 elephants were poisoned by ivory poachers in Hwange last year.