African press review 16 April 2012

Jacob Zuma gets another wife. Will she add to the tax bill? Malema's still our chief, says the ANC Youth League. Kenya gets tough on dicey politicos. How long will Uganda's Museveni hang on? And Niger Delta rebels tell Boko Haram not to touch Goodluck Jonathan.

The marital marathon of South African President Jacob Zuma, who is to marry for the sixth time and will thus have four wives on the go at the same time, makes the front page of The Star. There, readers are assured that Jacob's marriage to Mrs Zuma IV, one Bongi Ngema, will not cost the tax payer a single cent.

That's probably true, as far as it goes. But the wives do have to be fed, watered and clothed. The president's domestic expenses include something called a "spousal allowance". Under Thabo Mbeki, spending on one spouse ran to an average of three-quarters of a million euros annually. Jacob Zuma, with three for the moment and number four to take up residence next weekend, is already spending twice that amount.

The opposition Democratic Alliance would like to see a cap set on expenditure on presidential wives.

The Sowetan has a different wife count, making Bongi Ngema number five, but you can allow for a certain amount of journalistic confusion given that the numbers are big and likely to lead to contradictions.

The Sowetan makes no mention of spousal allowances, quoting a government spokesperson who says reports in the media suggesting the state would bear the cost of maintaining Zuma's wives are incorrect.

Jacob Zuma celebrated his 70th birthday at the weekend.

Still in South Africa, and still with The Sowetan, the ANC Youth League has given its mother body the middle finger, insisting that Julius Malema remains its leader.

The decision was taken at the national executive committee meeting yesterday with  Malema absent. The league discussed their president's recent suspension after he called Zuma, the president of both the nation and the party, Zuma a dictator.

The Youth League decided that JuJu was still its leader since the decision to suspend him has never been officially communicated to the league.

According to financial daily BusinessDay, further news about Malema is expected to be one of the highlights of the political diary this week as the firebrand seems destined to start a political life outside the ANC.

By the way, BusinessDay credits President Zuma with six wives, including three current ones.

There's bad news for dodgy politicians in Kenya. According to The Daily Nation, political figures who fail the ethics and integrity test will be blocked from running in the general election, according to new tough regulations being prepared by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.

Also outlawed are night meetings and premature campaigns. The regulations ban campaign rallies, statements and political messages in the media before the official campaign period.

In Uganda, according to The Daily Monitor, President Yoweri Museveni will step down in 2016 if the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party asks him to.

Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, is one of the longest-serving African leaders. He defends his long stay in power, saying he has earned the mandate of the people through the ballot box. Independent observers have questioned the integrity of all four elections.

The president has repeatedly passed the question of his retirement on to the party, which he controls closely. According to analysts, the latest declaration comes against a background of rebellion within the NRM with repeated calls for Museveni to step down or name his departure date.

The Monitor also reports from Nigeria, where an armed group from the Niger Delta has promised a bloody showdown with the Islamist Boko Haram sect should any harm come to President Goodluck Jonathan.

This follows a recent threat by the jihadists to “devour” the Nigerian leader and bring down his government.

The threat came three days ago in a 14-minute video posted on YouTube with the leader of the terror sect, Sheikh Abubakar Imam Shekau, threatening to cause physical harm to the president.

In response to the threat, the spokesperson for the Niger Delta Liberation Force, Captain Mark Anthony, warned the rebels that their acts of terror will no longer go unchallenged.