African press review 5 March 2012

Petrol price rises in Soweto, ANC Youth League leaderJulius Malema's says he will not challenge the party in court over his expulsion and an alleged gold swindle in Uganda are the stories making headlines.

According to BusinessDay, which is published in Johannesburg, Congress of South African Trade Unions General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi has once again turned his back on an opportunity to serve on the African National Congress executive.

Instead, he will run for another term of office at the helm of the union federation when it holds its national congress in September. This means, he says, that he will not stand for election to the leadership structures of the ANC in December, because it would compromise his independence.

Two weeks ago President Jacob Zuma encouraged labour leaders to serve on the ANC’s national executive committee, instead of criticising the party’s policies and their slow implementation from a distance.

The Sowetan announces that petrol prices in the main inland commercial region of Gauteng will increase by 2,6 per cent a litre on Wednesday, according to the energy department.

The wholesale diesel price will rise by about one per cent.

Government says the increase in international crude oil prices comes as a result of oil supply disruptions in Yemen, Syria, and Sudan.

News that Iran had been intensifying its nuclear enrichment programme escalated tensions between Iran and the West, further pushing up oil prices.

You have to go to Zimbabwe for news of Julius Malema. According to NewsDay in Harare, Malema has asked to stay on as a member of South Africa's ruling ANC, despite being expelled from the party last week.

Speaking at a gathering of the ANC's women's wing on his 31st birthday on Saturday, Malema said he would not challenge the ANC in court over his expulsion for bringing the party into disrepute, even though he believed he had done nothing wrong.

Instead, he has asked the ANC's disciplinary council to allow him keep his party membership even if stripped of the presidency of its Youth League.

The government owned Herald has the same Malema story, literally word for word, on its front page too, so maybe Sunday was a quiet news day in Zimbabwe. Or perhaps Julius Malema has more of a political future than his critics suspect?

The front page of the Daily Monitor in Uganda reports that the Justice Minister, General Kahinda Otafiire and the former External Security Organisation deputy chief Emmy Allio, have locked horns with a South African businessman over a gold deal which went wrong.

In a written statement reported to have been sent to President Museveni, the businessman, Henri Van Der Westhuizen, claims he was conned by the two Ugandan officials into buying fake gold in Tanzania.

Van Der Westhuizen claims security officials have since threatened his life.

The Justice Minister has certainly threatened Van Der Westhuizen, since General Kahinda Otafiire is quoted in this morning's Daily Monitor as saying "If I see Henry, I will cut off his head."

Otafiire denies any dubious dealings, saying the South African businessman tested the gold himself, exported it from Tanzania to Uganda and then to Dubai and after two weeks came back claiming that the gold was fake.

According to the Daily Nation in Kenya, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Eldoret North MP William Ruto may find it impossible to campaign for the presidency in the forthcoming elections.

This is because of last week’s decision by the International Criminal Court, clearing the way for their trial for crimes against humanity.

With every indication that the ICC proceedings will play a central role in the General Election, says the Kenyan daily, the suspects’ exclusion would have far-reaching consequences on other presidential hopefuls, particularly Prime Minister Raila Odinga, his deputy Musalia Mudavadi and Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka.

Last Thursday, the ICC appeals chamber declined a request by Kenyatta and Ruto to suspend their trials until a decision is made on their application seeking to persuade the court that the case should not be handled at The Hague.

The big question is whether Kenyans should take the risk of having their new president hauled off to The Hague immediately after his election.