African press review 9 August 2013

Zimbabwe’s newspapers react to President Robert Mugabe’s first statement since his party’s victory in the 31 July general elections.

Speaking in an address to the Politburo of his ZANU/PF party in Harare, Robert Mugabe slammed Western countries for “disgracing themselves,” after they passed a damning verdict on his re-election. Bulawayo 24 says the 89-year-old Mugabe later told journalists that the election had dislodged the MDC party - “the enemy” - allegedly bankrolled by his Western foes in a failed bid to overthrow him.

The state-owned Herald newspaper carries a message from Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono, dismissing rumours that President Mugabe was about to order an immediate return to the worthless Zimbabwean Dollar.

Newsday says that Morgan Tsvangirai defused a potential split in his MDC-T party Thursday, when he gave the green light to winners of last week’s elections from his party to take part in parliamentary and council business.

The opinions of union leaders and analysts about the stunning outcome of the vote are published in today’s edition of Daily News. One of them blames the elections body ZEC for what he described as “the stunning outcome and massive rigging by the revolutionary party, which has clung onto power for the past 33 years.” Others point to the dictatorial tendencies of ex-Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and urge him to carry out a forensic audit to ascertain where they erred.

In South Africa, Mail and Guardian reports that opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai is due to file an application in the Constitutional Court on Friday to challenge the results of the presidential and general elections. According to the paper, Tsvangirai requested the Electoral Court in his founding affidavit to compel ZEC to hand over all voter details. The leading South African political scientist Steven Friedman claims in a column published by Business Day, that it is the MDC’s tactical ineptitude which aided the sham election.

In Kenya, Daily Nation reports that detectives from the FBI and Israel’s Mossad have joined investigations into Wednesday’s fire, which gutted the arrivals section of Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. The paper believes their involvement suggests that investigators are keen to eliminate the theory that terrorism could have been responsible for the inferno. The Nation also looks at the questions being raised about the slow response by firemen when the blaze started. It says that witnesses saw smoke followed by a small fire, which should have been easily extinguished. Kenyan Airways’ top safety and security manager is quoted as saying that sabotage by sacked workers is another lead that investigators are following.

Many businesses are counting their losses due to the disruption of operations at the busy airport, according to Standard Digital. The paper claims that the major casualties include Kenyan Airways, which was operating at just 35 percent of its capacity on Thursday. The Kenyan airport authority on Wednesday reported losses of up to 185,000 euros in landing and parking fees paid by airlines in the use of the JKIA, according to the Standard.

Twitter has removed a thorn from the foot of the South African government, after it reacted to the happenings of Nobel Peace Laureat Desmond Tutu's account. His "handle" was blocked just hours after it was launched, as it was caught up in a spam clean out.

Mail and Guardian says some people wasted no time to suspect the powers that be of blocking the outspoken Tutu’s social media outlet because it amassed over 600 followers in very little time. According to the Johannesburg paper, @TutuLegacy was being operated by Tutu himself or his daughter Mpho, who was trying to assist the 81 year old in staying in touch with his flock, as he plans to cut down on travelling.