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African press review 7 July 2015

Warnings that South Africa is becoming a golden handshake republic, as the government splashes out millions of rand to pay for their errors. Domestic air travel in Nigeria slumps into crisis as carriers reel in debt, and the Kenyan press looks for clues into mafia-like killings targeting land buyers.

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We begin with a new scandal that has broken out in South Africa following the revelation that government officials and state-owned entities paid out millions of rand in golden handshakes to employees for issues such as misconduct, poor performance and termination of contracts.

Mail and Guardian, which carries the story, says that the shocking practice was exposed through questioning of the Minister of Agriculture Senzeni Zokwana in parliament. According to the Johannesburg-based publication, Zokwana admitted that the highest amount totalling 1.6 million rand (nearly 117,000 euros) was paid to former department director general Langa Zita who was suspended in 2012.

Mail and Guardian also reports that even the police ministry admitted on Monday that it had spent more than 2 million euros on the termination of contracts since 2009.

According to the newspaper, in most government entities suspension over issues such as dereliction of duty, breakdown in employee and employer relations and misconduct leads to millions in payouts, a fact which has been brought to the forefront through a range of written questions by Democratic Alliance MPs over the past month.

The party’s chairperson James Selfe said it was outrageous that the government paid for their mistakes using taxpayers’ money. The revelations came after rumours emerged in May this year of possible payouts for SARS deputy commissioner Ivan Pillay and the head of strategic planning, Peter Richer. Mail and Guardian says commentators are warning that South Africa is in danger of becoming a "golden handshake republic."

From Nigeria, The Guardian sounds alarm bells that the country’s aviation industry is in danger due to debts and high running costs.

In Tuesday’s investigative report the paper found out that multiple taxation by government agencies, the high cost of aviation fuel compared to elsewhere, prohibitive interest rates from banks, lack of easy access to foreign exchange and the lack of night flying infrastructure in more than 97 per cent of the airports in Nigeria are sounding the death knell for most domestic airlines.

The Guardian reports that one airline was recently forced to offload passengers after being denied access to airport facilities by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority. The public facility which recently adopted a new policy of “no pay, no services” claims that the carrier’s debt now stands at 1.2 billion naira (nearly 5.5 million euros).

According to the newspaper the situation is so fraught with danger that the government will have to work out an amicable reconciliation between the parties or facilitate the rescheduling of debts which are having a negative impact on the Nigerian airline industry.

Meanwhile, Kenya's Daily Nation warns of a mystery gang that stalks land company bosses cold-blooded, with gangland-style killings at Kihiu Mwiri, a land-buying company in Murang’a South.

According to the publication, in the past two years six directors have been killed under mysterious circumstances. In all, over the past 15 years, seven directors have been killed while four others have disappeared without trace. Some relatives of the directors have also been abducted at various points and later released in the calculated attacks aimed at eliminating all the officials in the 6,200-member company.

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