We start in Nigeria where the papers are speculating on the downsizing of President Mohammadu Buhari’s cabinet. This is after he reiterated that the economy cannot support 36 ministerial portfolios.


By William Niba

According to Vanguard, Buhari spoke his mind at a brief ceremony at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Tuesday, after receiving the list of confirmed ministerial nominees from Senate President Bukola Saraki. No date has been scheduled for the inauguration of the cabinet.

The newspaper reports that the President’s remarks have caused tension among the ministers-designate who have been hanging around Abuja and waiting for a call from the Presidency to come and assume office.

Meanwhile, a former minister of transport and aviation, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, took a swipe at President Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday for declaring that Nigeria is broke.

Babatope, who is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), told Daily Sun that the opposition party and Nigerians were watching Buhari to see how he would handle the economy with all the “noise” the All Progressives Congress made during the 2015 general elections.

On the president’s intention to have ministers without portfolios, Babatope said the southern part of the country had been cheated through various appointments Buhari has made so far which were mostly in favour of the north.

In South Africa, BusinessDay has breaking news from Nigeria for MTN after Nigerian authorities announced the renewal of the mobile phone service provider's licence for another five years.

The paper says MTN stock rose 5% to close at R155.54 after Tuesday’s announcement. However, according to the paper, it is still caught up in a crisis over a $5.2bn fine from the Nigerian Communications Commission for unregistered SIM cards on its network.

MTN’s original licence was issued in 2001 and is due to expire in February next year. The five-year licence period is much shorter and could put further pressure on MTN in its single largest market.

MTN said it would have to pay a spectrum fee of $94.2m by the end of December and the licence was "conditional upon MTN fulfilling all its regulatory obligations."

Mail and Guardian warns that South Africa is in danger of becoming a radicalized society. That’s according to a column published by Mail and Guardian this Wednesday as the country comes to terms with the “no school fees” campaign.

The paper claims that are similarities between what’s happening today and the mood in South Africa in the 1940s – the results of which altered the country’s course, for the worse.
The Johannesburg publication holds in the article that “exclusivist nationalists” pursue a form of nationalism that is driven primarily by a keen sense of distinctiveness. They desire to elevate it at the expense of others. Radical actors locate their policy goals toward one pole of the policy spectrum and create polarisation. They express an urgency to achieve their goals, evident in an unwillingness to bargain or be patient.

For Mail and Guardian, moderates realise that inherent in democracy is a core tension requiring significant maturity – that of balancing. They also grasp that for the sustainable future of a democracy, it is imperative that certain ingredients come to the fore such as moderation, which recognises and accommodates differing political beliefs; pragmatism, instead of a rigid ideological approach; a measure of institutional and social trust; willingness to compromise; and civility, which implies a respect for other views.