Matthew Davies
Editor, BBC Africa Business Report

The immediate impact of South Africa's ratings downgrade by Standard & Poors is largely seen on the screens of financial traders.

The country's currency, the rand, has lost ground, bonds and banking shares have fallen and there is a general air of impending doom.

Of the big three ratings agencies, only Standard & Poors has lowered South Africa's sovereign debt to below investment grade.

Should Moody's or Fitch follow suit, big international investors like pension funds would be forced, under their own rules, to sell their South African government debt. Those rules require two of the three to move to junk status.

South Africa's major banks have been quick to point out that they are financially sound and well positioned to withstand the impact of sovereign rating downgrades.

Nonetheless, banking shares are taking a significant battering.

But the turmoil on the currency, bond and equity markets will spread to the wider economy soon enough.

Read the full analysis piece here

Image source, AFP

The UN has said it has found 13 mass graves in the Democratic Republic of Congo's central Kasai province since the beginning of March.

This brings the number discovered since last August to 23.

The UN has been unable to examine the mass graves and cannot say if they were recently dug.

It estimates that 400 people, including women and children, have been killed in clashes between the army and a rebel group.

The government is fighting to put down a rebellion by a group called Kamwina Nsapu, which began after a regional chief was killed.

Both sides have been accused of committing human rights violations.

The BBC Africa Business Report presenter has been considering the significance of the decision by South African Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba not to reveal that the country's credit rating was about to be downgraded to junk status. 

He told media earlier that he had been informed of the move on Friday, three days before the downgrade took place:

South Africa's largest trade union, Cosatu, has been giving more details about why it has called for President Jacob Zuma to stand down. 

Its leadership appears to have been particularly angered at not being consulted over the president's dramatic cabinet reshuffle last week.

It did not join other critics of the president in mourning the loss of former Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, whose sacking has precipitated the current crisis.

General Secretary of Cosatu, Bheki Ntshalintshali, told media:

He also attacked the ratings agency behind the downgrade:

But he did not seek to divert blame away from the president himself:

Milton Nkosi
BBC Africa, Johannesburg

Image source, Reuters

President Jacob Zuma is certainly politically weaker than he was over the weekend, following today’s call by the trade union federation Cosatu for him to step down.

It is not just about the sudden Monday evening credit rating agency downgrade.

It is precisely because of the decision by a key ANC ally such as Cosatu, which must have come as crushing blow to the embattled president, changing its tune.

How quickly the tables turn.

It wasn’t that long ago when Cosatu stood firmly behind president Zuma as growing voices of dissent were calling for his removal.

What makes the move by the federation of 1.8 million members so significant is that this is the second formal structure within the governing alliance calling for Mr Zuma’s head.

The South African Communist Party (SACP) were the first to break ranks.

Eyes now shift to the National Working Committee (NWC) of the ANC, currently meeting, to come out clearly on whether it wants its leader to continue at the helm of one of Africa’s largest economies.

This will certainly strengthen the resolve of those ganging up against the 74-year old president.

Tomi Oladipo
BBC Monitoring's Africa security correspondent

Asmara is not mincing its words in condemning the US sanctions (see earlier entry). 

A statement from the Ministry of Information described Washington’s latest measures as “inexplicable”, “unwarranted” and “illicit”. 

It said US policies toward Eritrea were “misguided” and coming from a “malicious” standpoint. 

Eritrea says the move is part of a ploy to extend existing United Nations sanctions – due to be reviewed this month.

US regulations authorise sanctions on any foreign entities that engage in military deals with Iran, North Korea and Syria. 

A recently released sanctions list included Eritrea’s Navy and three entities from Sudan. 

The measures mean the US government cannot trade with or provide assistance to those on the list.

Martin Patience
BBC News, Nigeria correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Oil tanker drivers in Nigeria have ended a strike that threatened to cause massive fuel shortages. The workers were protesting over pay and the poor condition of the roads, which damages their vehicles. 

It had been billed as an indefinite strike but in the end it lasted just a day. The union representing the drivers said the government intervened promising to look into its members’ demands.  

Union officials also say that Nigeria’s state-owned oil company agreed to increase transportation fees for its drivers.  

Before it was called off, the strike threatened to create massive fuel shortages, which would have brought misery to millions of Nigerians. 

Last year, a dispute over pricing, led to long queues at petrol stations for several weeks.      

The South African government has been tweeting from the media briefing being given by the finance minister:

South Africa's new Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba says that the S&P ratings agency had already taken the decision to downgrade South Africa's credit rating to junk status by the time he started his job on Friday, and that he had been informed.

Yesterday, three days after he learned of the pending downgrade, he told media: 

"There’s so much going on in our country that changing a certain individual won’t cause a credit downgrade."

A local journalist has tweeted the reason he gave for not making the information public at the time:

The cosmetics giant wrote ‘Keep it clean, keep it bright. Don’t let anything ruin it’ alongside the image, which was shared on its Middle East Facebook page.

The image was advertising its ‘Invisible’ range of deodorant, which has a half-black and half-white bottle.

Facebook users said the image was racist. The image was picked up and shared widely among some alt-right groups on Facebook.

Nivea has not yet commented, Metro newspaper, external reported.

Read more: Who are the ‘alt-right’?

The media briefing from South Africa's new Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba is under way.

There is no sign of Pravin Gordhan, his sacked predecessor, who was expected to join him at the briefing. 

Local media and journalists are sharing key quotes from his address on Twitter:

At the same time that South Africa's largest trade union was calling on him to resign, President Zuma was defending his controversial cabinet reshuffle, appearing at an event in Pretoria at the launch of a state-run train service.

The government has tweeted a selection of his comments:

One journalist has shared a video of the president facing questions about the credit rating downgrade while aboard the train:

President Zuma's sacking of respected Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has led to the following developments:

• Ratings agency S&P has downgraded South Africa's credit rating to junk
• The rand currency has fallen by 12% against the dollar since last Monday
• The move was condemed by senior figures from within his own party, as well as the opposition and wider business community
• South Africa's biggest trade union Cosatu has called for Mr Zuma to step down
• Former president Kgalema Motlanthe has also said he should resign
• Mr Zuma has insisted that South Africa's fiscal policy will remain unchanged

BBC Monitoring
News from around the globe

Asmara has criticised a move by the US State Department to sanction the Eritrean army over an alleged military deal with North Korea. The deal was revealed in a report released in February by the UN Security Sanctions Committee. 

The report said that cargo carrying military radio equipment from North Korea was intercepted while on its way to Eritrea.

The Eritrean government dismissed the decision as "inexplicable and unwarranted", saying they were part of plans to extend UN sanctions against the country, due to be reviewed this month. 

Eritrea has been under UN sanctions since 2009 following accusations that the government supported the al-Shabab militant group in Somalia, accusations vehemently denied by Asmara.

Read more: Could pariah state Eritrea come in from the cold?

Milton Nkosi
BBC Africa, Johannesburg

Image source, Reuters

South Africa's biggest trade union Cosatu (the Congress of South African Trade Unions), which is allied to the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party, has joined calls for President Jacob Zuma to step down.

Following its Central Executive Committee (CEC) meeting in Johannesburg, Secretary General Bheki Ntshalintshali told a media briefing “COSATU no longer believes he is the right person to lead the tripartite alliance”.

“The time has arrived for him to step down and allow the country to be led by a new collective….We shall be communicating the decision to our ally in the ANC,” he added

Cosatu claims that it has a membership of at least 1.8m paid-up members.

BBC Monitoring
News from around the globe

Somalia's al-Shabab militants have kidnapped four aid workers in the south-western region of Gedo, one of the areas worst affected by a severe drought. 

"The aid workers were working with the World Health Organisation office in Luq town, Gedo," privately-owned Radio Shabelle website reported.

"The motive behind the kidnapping of the aid workers is not known and the regional administration is yet to comment on the incident," the website added. 

Gedo is one of the areas in which al-Shabab militants say they have been delivering aid to people facing the risk of starvation. 

South Africa's largest trade union federation, Cosatu, has called on Jacob Zuma to step down as president:

A photograph purportedly showing former First Lady Michelle Obama with her hair tied back, instead of the straight and wavy style she mostly wore during her eight years in the White House, has been circulating widely on social media.

A tweet carrying the photo has been retweeted more than 30,000 times. It is not clear when or where the photograph was taken, but Michelle's husband Barack is writing a memoir of his time as president in Tetiaroa, a South Pacific island once owned by Marlon Brando, according to the Washington Post newspaper, external .

Here's some of the reaction:

Hair has become a political issue in Africa and among black communities around the world.

Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has said that "if Michelle Obama had had natural hair, Barack would not have won".

Chemical relaxers, which straighten hair, have been popular for years. But while the look is seen by some as professional, others are now calling it un-African.

"Relaxing your hair is like being in prison," Ms Adichie wrote. "You're caged in. Your hair rules you."

Read more:

Being African: What does hair have to do with it?

In pictures: My natural hair journey

'Wear a weave at work - your afro hair is unprofessional'

IMHO: Why we need to relax about black natural hair

South Africa's newly installed Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba is due to speak to the media any moment. 

Joining him at the briefing will be his predecessor, Pravin Gordhan, whose sacking last week has so spooked the markets. 

You can follow the live stream below from the local eNCA news network

Image source, SA gov

South African President Jacob Zuma is coming under huge pressure after his so-called midnight massacre of ministers on Thursday, in which he sacked widely respected Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.

The move has caused the rand to slide in value against the dollar and prompted the country's credit rating to be downgraded to junk status.

Here's an update on some of the most high-profile people and groups now calling for Mr Zuma to resign:

Former President Kgalema Motlanthe . 

He told Bloomberg news:

South Africa Communist Party (SACP) , a coalition partner of Mr Zuma's governing ANC party.

SACP Deputy General-Secretary Solly Mapaila has urged members of Mr Zuma's own party to support a motion of no confidence against him:

The main two largest opposition parties, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and Democratic Alliance (DA), have also called for the president to step down.