“500 Real Celebs & Fakes Listed” and “Prince Wasjja’s Bride Speaks on Love, Virginity”
The Feb. 7 2013 launch edition of thew tabloid Hello! featured a list of more than 500 real and fake celebrities in Uganda as well as an exclusive interview with Marion Nankya, fiancée of Uganda’s Prince David Wasajjam. Frank Tumwebaze, the Minister in Charge of the Presidency and Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) asked a favor of the tabloid on its inaguration: “Please use your generational advantage to champion quality and logical debate in Uganda for the sake of posterity. The generation of our children shan’t speak tribe and religion but issues, substance and logic.” So much for freedom of press.
Source: RedPepper.
“Dying girl tells her mum of bloody attack! Satanists Did It!”
In a gruesome story that either repulsed or titillated readers. the Daily Sun reported with gratuitous detail on March 5 2013 the death of a 17-year-old in the bush outside Fontein, a gold-mining town about 30 miles outside Johannesburg. Readers in that area are primarily black and working class. The newspaper has been criticized for its tokoloshe stories — an evil spirit in Zulu mythology — playing upon Zulu superstition.
Source: PoliticsWeb.
“2-Week wait for ambulance: Bedridden 80-Year-Old Man Stranded”
After falling and fracturing his hip, Frederick Botha of Krugersdorp “waited two weeks in considerable pain for the only working ambulance to fetch and take him to hospital” according to the July 17 2013 story in the Sowetan. The Johannesburg newspaper reaches about 2 million readers. The Sowetan grew out of anti-apartheid newspaper Bantu World, which underwent several incarnations before becoming the Sowetan in 1981. It’s considered a left-leaning editorial newspaper that still champions black causes in the townships.
Source: WiredSpace.
“Good Samaritan’s birthday surprise: Ben 10 Poked My Wife!”
On Nov. 26 2013, Teboho Tshehlo from C section in Botshabelo, near Bloemfontein, said his 60th birthday was the “saddest day of his life”… “First he caught his 50-year-old wife poking another man and then the man stabbed him,” the report said. The Daily Sun is South Africa’s largest newspaper and its journalists say they write their stories from real encounters with real people on the street. “‘We’ve grown from zero to 500,000 copies a day. It gives us four million readers – grown like a mushroom and growing all the time,’” chief sub-editor Dennis Smith told the BBC.
“Exposed! Inside the Bahati Homosexuality Law”
The well-known sensationalist Ugandan tabloid named the country’s “200 top homosexuals” on Feb. 25 2014, the day after President Yoweri Museveni signed into law a bill that could send known gay people to prison for life. Many of the people on the list were known gays, some of whom lived abroad, according to the BBC. But it also named Ugandans who had not openly identified as gay.
Source: BBC
“2015 Will Be Payback Time in Lagos – PDP”
In this Sept. 15 2014 story about Nigeria’s upcoming 2015 elections, the All Progressives Congress — an alliance of the county’s four largest opposition parties — predicted that the Peoples’ Democratic Party and President Goodluck Jonathan will “suffer” for failing to arrest the “destructive scourge of insurgency ravaging the North-Eastern part of the country.”
Source: ISSUU
“Apostolic sect runs amok”
Six anti-riot police officers, a journalist and an official of the Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe were seriously injured May 31 2014 after hundreds of congregants of an Apostolic sect turned violent when the delegation attempted to officially ban it for alleged human rights abuses. Council President Johanes Ndanga had just concluded his speech declaring the sect’s exile when members armed with “staffs” attacked the police while “baying for Ndanga’s blood.” Apostolic sect members, previously known for their “sheepish behaviour,” chanted warlike songs as they advanced on the delegation.
Source: ZimMail
“CJ Willy Mutunga and Gladys Shollei in Twitter war over house deal”
Two Kenyan bureaucrats exchanged heated tweets over a house supposedly bought by Kenya’s parliament for Dr. Willy Mutunga, chief justice of Kenya and president of the Supreme Court, Kenya’s Daily Nation reported Oct. 22 2014. Mutunga triggered the exchanges by saying, “I have no official residence. Since my appointment I live in a rented apartment.” Gladys Shollei, the country’s former chief registrar – recently sacked due to alleged mishandling of judiciary office leasing – accused Mutunga of lying about his accommodation. “@WMutunga 4 months after coming to office on 20/5/11 was already begging/demanding for a residence. If he requested why has he not moved in?” As the row rages over the house, Mutunga continued to live in an apartment in Kilimani, the Daily Nation reported.
Source: Nation
“Winnie Goes to War”
When South African President Nelson Mandela died in December his widow, the usually outspoken Winnie Mandela, initially remained silent after she was left out of the will. According to the Oct. 15 2014 story in the Daily Sun, “the Mother of the Nation has decided to fight for the house in Qunu! Mama Winnie is concerned no one is taking care of the property,” advocate Mvuzo Notyesi said. “There was a robbery recently and some of Madiba’s items are being sold by strangers. It’s just chaos at that house. SHE SAYS SHE HAS TRADITION AND CUSTOM ON HER SIDE,” the paper emphasized in all caps.
Source: PoliticsWeb
“Oscar Dodges Bullet”
Oscar Pistorius is a liar – but not a cold-blooded murderer, Judge Thokozile Masipa said in delivering her verdict in the Pretoria High Court. Although she cleared Pistorius of murder, Judge Masipa said Pistorius “acted too hastily, used excessive force and his conduct was negligent.” Wits University law expert James Grant said, “The judge said Pistorius didn’t intend to kill anyone,” but “I struggle to find how Pistorius intentionally fired four times into the cubicle when he knew someone was inside but didn’t foresee the possibility of killing this person.”
Source: TimesLive
