African press review 24 February 2015

The glass is either half full or half empty this morning in Kenya.

The main headline in today's Standard reads "Judges declare eight sections of new security law illegal." But, further down the same front page, we read "Over 90 per cent of Security Act left intact, Government says."

The basic facts are that the Kenyan High Court yesterday declared several sections of the Security Laws (Amendment) Act, 2014 illegal, including those which critics have claimed would have infringed on media freedom.

The Bill was signed into law by President Uhuru Kenyatta on 19 December, last year, prompting the opposition Coalition for Reforms and Democracy and a number of NGOs to file petitions challenging its provisions.

The Act amended 22 existing laws dealing with security matters.

The Kenyan government has said that it respects High Court’s ruling declaring some clauses of the Security Laws (Amendment) Act unconstitutional, but goes on to say that only eight clauses of an extremely long and complex document are affected by yesterday's decision.

The Government says the clauses that have been declared unconstitutional are still valid as they are intended to ensure the security of Kenyans and said it will still fight to have them included as part of the law.

There's no debate across the city at the Kenyan Daily Nation. "Security laws illegal, declares High Court," is the blunt headline, with the story explaining that eight offensive clauses in the controversial Security Laws Act were yesterday declared unconstitutional, striking a blow against the government’s push for tough measures to curb terrorism but signalling a victory for citizen freedoms and human rights.

Apart from those clauses restricting media activity, the judges also threw out new rules on the holding of suspects, the refusal of bail for some suspects, the right to silence and the provision of state evidence to lawyers representing those being tried.

On limiting the number of refugees in the country to 150,000, the judges ruled that the provision was not only unconstitutional but also a violation of international treaties.

An article on the front page of Johannesburg-based financial paper BusinessDay warns that rising levels of violence in South African politics are now an urgent concern.

According to Karl von Holdt, director of the University of Witwatersrand Society Work and Development Institute, South Africa’s formal and visible system of politics, that of elections and Parliament, is intermeshed with an informal political system of patronage and faction. It's the clash between these two systems which is leading to political violence.

Members of Parliament of the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) were forcefully ejected from the National Assembly during the president's state of the nation address on 12 February. EFF MPs have been known to brandish firearms during press conferences. Democratic Alliance leaders were arrested and their supporters water-cannoned during a protest on the day of the presidential address to parliament.

The Sowetan reports on its front page that the South African Constitutional Court yesterday dismissed an application by the opposition party, Agang, calling for a secret ballot on a motion of no confidence in President Jacob Zuma.

Agang argued that it was crucial that members of Parliament be able to vote without fear of persecution.

The court said the application would serve neither justice nor the public interest.

In Zambia, president Edgar Lungu said yesterday that his government would not allow mining jobs to be lost at Barrick Gold’s copper mine. This, after workers went on strike to protest against the company’s plans to suspend operations because of high royalties.

Zambia in January hiked mineral royalties for open pit operations to 20 per cent from 6 per cent, prompting Toronto-based Barrick Gold to say it would suspend operations at its Lumwana Copper Mine, which employs 4,000 people directly.

Zambia’s Chamber of Mines warned in December the new royalties would result in shaft closures and 12,000 job losses.

The Lusaka government will attempt to find a new partner to run the Lumwana mine as a joint venture, if Barrick Gold pull out.

And the main story in the Cairo-based Egypt Independent reports that a military court has postponed to 9 March the trial of the Muslim Brotherhood leader, Mohamed Badie, and 198 other Islamists.

The defendants are accused of participating in clashes that killed 31 people in the canal city of Suez between 14 and 16 August, 2013.