Summary

  • South African student body calls for drinking age to be raised to 21

  • Row after "urine-filled bottles" found in Uganda's parliamentary chapel

  • Influential Muslim cleric says Nigerian leaders should undergo drugs tests

  • Zambia abandons recruitment of Chinese police reservists after outcry

  • UK's Boris Johnson congratulates Ramaphosa on his win

  • Steinhoff investors decide fate of firm

Live Reporting

Natasha Booty and Farouk Chothia

  1. Zambia recruits Chinese police reservists

    Kennedy Gondwe
    Lusaka

    AFPMwebantu Media

    Critics say the recruitment is unconstitutional

    The Zambian police have appointed eight Chinese nationals as part-time officers.

    The move has sparked outrage after police chiefs earlier this year banned officers from marrying foreigners for “security reasons”.

    The reservists, who were yesterday commissioned by the head of the Zambia police, are believed to have already started working.

    Dickson Jere, a lawyer and former presidential spokesman, said the appointments violated the constitution which clearly stated that any Zambian who has dual citizenship cannot join the defence and security forces.

    He added:

    So you stop your own citizens from joining the police because they have dual citizenship, and yet you allow Chinese who have no links whatsoever to this soil to be part of the same police service....food for thought."

    Zambian police spokeswoman Esther Mwata-Katongo defended the appointments, saying the reservists were screened before their appointments and they worked under the supervision of regular officers.

    She told the Lusaka Times news site:

    We had Indians who were police reserves and people were okay with it. Why should the Chinese be discriminated on race? We are using the Police Reserve Act which does not segregate on race.

    When it comes to the marriage our standing orders are clear. We do not use emotions but the law.”

  2. Emir of Kano calls for mandatory drugs test

    The emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi II speaks shortly after receiving staff of office during his coronation as the 57th emir of the ancient Kano emirate on February 7, 2015 at the newly built Coronation Hall near the Kano state governor's office.AFP

    The emir is known for ruffling feathers

    One of Nigeria's most powerful Muslim clerics, the Emir of Kano, has called for a law to compel politicians and religious leaders to undergo a drugs test, saying they were deceiving themselves if they refused to acknowledge they were "part of the problem".

    Speaking at a conference on drug abuse in the northern city of Kano yesterday, Muhammad Sanusi II said he was prepared to take a test and "if I am found not worthy of being emir I will quietly resign".

    It was hypocritical for “a governor or senator or any big political office-holder” to condemn drug abuse while having “highly drugged thugs as his bodyguards", he said.

    The emir added:

    Today, it is better to be a drug baron on the payroll of a political leader than to be a legally recognised security man, which means we must clean our acts before trying to achieve anything."

    Read: The emir with a modernising approach

  3. Today's wise words

    Our African proverb of the day:

    Whoever steals a bicycle is on their way to the market to chase someone who stole a fish. "

    A Bini proverb from Nigeria sent by Ameze Ogbeide in Edinburgh, UK

    A man rides his bike man riding his bicyle next to taxis parked outside the central market in Diffa, southeast of Niger. Residents of Diffa, located near the Lake Chad and the border with Nigeria, live under the constant threat of attacks by the Islamic group Boko Haram.AFP

  4. Good morning

    Welcome to BBC Africa Live where we will bring you the latest news and views from around the continent.