African press review 21 October 2013

SAA's plans for an airport hub in West Africa and violent political slogans are among the subjects in today's African dailies ..

The main story in the Johannesburg-based financial paper, BusinessDay, concerns the national air carrier, South African Airways. For once, it's not a tale of delays, overspending or strikes.

South African Airways is gearing up to establish a hub in West Africa in two years’ time and is exploring ways of helping to build air transport capacity for the Nigerian government.

Chief Executive Officer Monwabisi Kalawe, who took the controls on June 1, has moved fast to firm up a way forward for SAA, for whom establishing a hub in West Africa has long been a strategic goal.

Improved connectivity between south and west will boost trade and shore up SAA’s share of the African market which has attracted interest from aggressive Gulf carriers.

BusinessDay's opinion pages carry an article looking at the ten most violent political slogans in South Africa.

The place of shame goes to Julius Malema's recently launched Economic Freedom Fighters which saw its more formal message of radical socialism somewhat undermined by a banner which read: "A revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate."

Good on them for qualifying "hate" in this way, says BusinessDay. The last thing anyone wants is a "cold killing machine" motivated by "partial hate".

There's lots of blood and mayhem in the rest of the list, and no shortage of calls to murder those who look or think differently. The Confederation of South African Trade Unions, the ANC Youth League and the South African Police Service are among the groups responsible.

Last place in the list goes to a Zulu expression, "Awuleth’ Umshini Wami," which BusinessDay translates as "Bring me my machinegun," attributing the call to South African president Jacob Zuma, saying it has been his rallying cry at nearly every party political gathering the president has attended.

Zuma has repeatedly denied that the song is, in any way, intended to invoke violence. Which reminds me of Julius Malema's harmless crooning of that Afrikaans cradle song, "murder the white man".

Kenya's top man, Uhuru Kenyatta, celebrated the nation’s heroes and called on Kenyans to safeguard the hard-fought freedom he said was under threat from external forces and other challenges.

Speaking yesterday at Nyayo National Stadium during the first Mashujaa Day celebration under his Jubilee administration, the president laid out his vision and urged Kenyans to “recognise shared opportunities as well as common threats”. "Mashujaa" is the Swahili word for heros.

The president named terrorism among threats to the nation, and asked those present to observe a minute’s silence in honour of the more than 60 people killed in the Westgate Mall attack.

In reference to the International Criminal Court where his deputy William Ruto is currently on trial, President Kenyatta said they would triumph in the end.

The president himself is scheduled to appear for the start of his trial on November 12 in the Dutch city of The Hague.

According to regional newspaper, The East African, concerns are growing over the recent cancellation of key meetings ahead of the East African Community Heads of State Summit due next month.

The five presidents are expected to pass some major resolutions that will define the future and pace of the integration agenda.

At least five Sectoral Council meetings scheduled to take place before November, which should have made key recommendations to the Heads of State, have been postponed or cancelled.

Among the issues on the agenda are the signing of the EAC Monetary Union Protocol, which has been approved by the Council of Ministers, and the approval of the Political Federation Protocol. Another top issue is the handing over of the EAC chairmanship from Uganda to Rwanda, the approval of a final verification report on the admission of South Sudan into the community, and the approval of the extension of the jurisdiction of the East Africa Court of Justice.

An increasing allignment of Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, to the exclusion of Tanzania and Burundi, has been blamed for some of the cancellations.