African press review 13 February 2012

Either the web sites closed for the evening before the news came in, or the lads went off duty early because there was a bit of a party going on . . . whatever the reason, Zambia's victory in the AfricaNations Cup football final fails to make any impact in the local press in Lusaka.

That's not the case down the road in South Africa, where The Sowetan gives the news pride of place, under the headline "Zambia claim Afcon crown".

The report confirms that Zambia are the football champions of Africa. Chipolopolo claimed the continental crown after beating Côte d'Ivoire 8-7 in a sudden death penalty shoot-out after a deadlocked final to the 28th instalment of the Africa Cup of Nations at a wet Stade de l'Amitié in Libreville last night.

The Sowetan explains that Zambia were determined to win the tournament in honour of the players who perished in the 1993 plane crash en route to a World Cup qualifier in Dakar, Senegal.

The South African daily also reports that Gabon president Ali Bongo's mother sang for fans at the closing ceremony ahead of the final.

South African bank notes will soon bear the image of former president Nelson Mandela, according to BusinessDay.

The five new bank notes – bearing the same illustration of the face of Mandela but in different sizes and colours – were unveiled at a press conference in Pretoria attended by President Jacob Zuma and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, on Saturday, the anniversary of the day Mandela was released from prison in 1990.

The new currency will be introduced before the end of the year.

The headline on the front page of this morning's South African Star reads "Malema is immature". That's the opinion of President Jacob Zuma. He says Malema tried to get away with political murder because he thought the ANC was weak and would let him off the hook.

Malema is, of course, awaiting the result of an ANC disciplinary committee hearing on the length of his suspension from the ruling party. That hearing is due to open today.

Zuma also warned senior ANC figures not to "cross the line" and support Malema, saying such support undermined the party's capacity to enforce discipline.

NewsDay in Zimbabwe reports that President Robert Mugabe is now sleeping through meetings and Zimbabweans should not risk voting him back into power, come the next elections, according to Movement for Democratic Change leader Welshman Ncube.

Ncube says Mugabe is now part of history and should go back to Zvimba (his rural home) to play with his grandchildren.

Mugabe will celebrate his 88th birthday this month and has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980.

The government-owned Harare Herald reports that the government has broken its silence on Air Zimbabwe by filing notice of opposition against a High Court application by the airline's workers seeking to have the firm placed under judicial management.

This comes as the airline announced yesterday that the national carrier will resume domestic flights today.

AirZim will service the Harare-Bulawayo-Victoria Falls route four days a week starting this morning.

Kenya's Daily Nation reports that the United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone has rejected a request by lawyers representing former Liberian president Charles Taylor to reopen his defence case.

Judges unanimously ruled that the Taylor defence had failed to establish any justification for re-opening the case.

At the end of January, Taylor’s defence team asked the court for permission to introduce pages from a UN report on the flow of Liberian mercenary groups into Cote d’Ivoire.

Taylor’s lawyers argued that the report supports their argument that during the Sierra Leonean conflict, it was possible for fighters to cross from Liberia into Sierra Leone without being under the direction and control of Charles Taylor and without the implicit approval of the Government of Liberia.

Taylor is charged with 11 counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity and other serious violations of international humanitarian law allegedly committed in the territory of Sierra Leone from November 1996 to January 2002.

He has denied all charges and has described the trial a conspiracy of Western countries.

Judgement is expected in June.