Milton Nkosi
BBC Africa, Johannesburg

South Africa’s rugby union has named Rassie Erasmus as the new Springbok coach.

The 45-year-old will lead the experienced Springbok team until the end of the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

He takes over from Allister Coetzee whose contract was terminated last month.

Mr Erasmus described his new appointment as an honour.

"I really believe we have the players and the rugby intellectual property to turn things around and to mount a serious challenge at next year’s Rugby World Cup,” he said.

A former Springbok captain, Erasmus returned to South Africa after coaching Irish side Munster.

The South African national squad won the World Cup in 1995 supported by Nelson Mandela. Their effort was turned into a feature film Invictus starring Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman.

Image source, Getty Images

More than 200 Cameroonian teachers demanding back pay and allowances have been arrested and detained in police stations across the capital Yaoundé after attempting to hold street protests on Tuesday.

Their family members say they have not had any contact since.

The leader of group, Samuel Ekoto, told BBC Afrique that plans to resolve the pay dispute last year weren't honoured, adding:

But some teachers disagree. A spokesman for another teacher's body, Jacques Bessala Ngono, told BBC Afrique it believed progress was being made in talks with the authorities and so had cut ties with those who protested.

BBC World Service

The Somali government says soldiers managed to prevent a car bomb from killing many people in central Mogadishu after they stopped a suspicious vehicle on the outskirts of the capital.

As the car was checked, the driver detonated the bomb.

It killed one soldier and injuredseveral civilians.

The Islamist extremist group al-Shabab says it carried out the attack.

Last week more than 30 people died when the al-Shabab group detonated two car bombs close to the presidential palace:

Image source, Universal / Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

A man has been taken into police custody for allegedly pretending to be the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, on Instagram.

The 20-year-old suspect had more than 200,000 followers on Instagram and was even given a so-called blue tick - which verifies the account is real.

The account is currently marked as private but still has the blue tick, external.

Musa Magaji from Kano state police told the BBC the investigation is still ongoing and they hoped to charge the man as soon as possible with impersonation and fraud.

He added that the Emir was one of seven people who had been impersonated, including other businessmen and public figures.

Police say the man in question gained a following of at least three million followers across all his fake accounts.

Image source, AFP

At least 12 people have been killed and more than 1,000 homes burnt down in northern Nigeria.

It comes after a fight reportedly broke out earlier this week over a Christian girl converting to Islam, as we reported earlier this week.

Local media report that the violence in Kaduna state has escalated in recent days, with police recovering petrol bombs and arresting 18 suspects.

While the state police chief says investigations are under way into the cause of the violence, external, senior politicians have been quick to suggest it was religiously motivated.

Nigeria's Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu has said:

On Monday, an eyewitness told BBC News Pidgin that trouble started after a Christian girl from Gwari converted to Islam because of her boyfriend.

The witness said this provoked some Christian youths in the area.

Other reports suggest tensions between the two faiths had been simmering for some time.

Two lionesses have been captured in Isiolo, Kenya, after "causing havoc" for two months, reports the Daily Nation, external.

The newspaper goes on to say the two lionesses that went on a rampage killed over 200 goats and several donkeys.

It shows half a dozen dead animals in just one area.

It adds that they were transported to Meru National Park and people who lost their animals are expected to be compensated and so to improve attitudes towards wildlife.

Image source, Getty Images

Parents of the more than 100 missing Nigerian school girls have spoken to the BBC about their distress, ten days after their daughters were kidnapped by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram.

At the now abandoned school in the north-eastern town of Dapchi, the BBC's Stephanie Hegarty saw the trail of shoes the girls had left behind as they had tried to run away from the militants. One father described how he had tried to reach the teenage girls but was forced back by the militants' gunfire.

Watch our correspondent's report:

The Nigerian military says it is pursuing the Boko Haram group but so far there has been no breakthrough in the effort to rescue the 110 students.

Piers Edwards
BBC Africa Sport

After protracted negotiations, Cedric Bakambu has joined China's Beijing Guoan in a deal that is understood to make him Africa's most expensive player ever.

I've been told by a source close to Bakambu that the deal totals $90m (£65m), beating the previous African record of $77m paid by Arsenal for Gabon's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Borussia Dortmund.

The same source - who works with Bakambu on image-related contracts - says the 26-year-old player from the Democratic Republic of Congo has signed a four-year deal.

Both the club and the player have posted images about the move - but without giving any details.

Image source, Getty Images

The Nelson Mandela Foundation wants the display of the old South African flag, used under apartheid, to be counted as hate speech, unfair discrimination and harassment based on race.

The foundation says, external it has filed an application to the Equality Court in Johannesburg.

It says displays of the flag "demonstrably compound the pain experienced by millions of black South Africans who suffered under apartheid and continue to struggle under its legacy".

"Some South Africans do not fully appreciate that apartheid was a crime against humanity (as the United Nations declared in 1973)," it goes on to say.

Supermodel Naomi Campbell and grime star Skepta have further fuelled rumours they are dating with a nude photoshoot in GQ magazine.

The British-Nigerian musician is perhaps best known on the continent for his collaboration with Afrobeats superstar Wizkid, external.

Fans were given a preview of the shoot on Naomi Campbell's Instagram page, where she posted this image.

Most shared their excitement, with kardashianvladislav, external saying "beautiful shot" and iojofx, external commenting "I just secured my wig and here you come like a strong, tropical breeze".

But other Instagram users were less convinced, such as _frannypackk_, externalwho joked Campbell was "a little too close to my man" and bronze_fit_ness, external who simply commented "what the heck?".

Image source, AFP

A Kenyan human rights group has accused police in the coastal region including the city of Mombasa of carrying out an increasing number of extrajudicial killings.

A spokeswoman for Haki Africa, Salma Hemed, said there had been three such deaths so far this week.

She said the actions of the police were driving young people to become radicalised or join gangs.

The Kenyan authorities have rejected similar accusations in the past.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have previously accused the Kenyan security forces of carrying out forced disappearances, summary killings and torture with impunity.

Our African proverb of the day:

Click here and scroll to the bottom to send us your African proverbs.

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

That's all from the BBC Africa Live page today. Keep up-to-date with what's happening across the continent by listening to the Africa Today podcast or checking the BBC News website.

A reminder of Wednesday's wise words:

Click here to send us your African proverbs

And we leave you with this photo from Instagram photo of a colourful mini-bus in Senegal's capital, Dakar.

A Ghanaian teacher who went viral after sharing a picture of himself drawing Microsoft Word software onto a blackboard during a lesson has caught the attention of the tech giant.

Owura Kwadwo's image has been widely shared on Facebook and Twitter, earning him praise for going the extra mile to teach his students.

His dedication impressed Microsoft staff, who tweeted the company will equip Mr Kwadwo with a device to help him during his lessons:

Mr Kwadwo posted the photo two weeks ago on his Facebook page to share what it was like to teach computer lessons - an exam subject - without actually having a computer:

Milton Nkosi
BBC Africa, Johannesburg

Image source, AFP

South Africa’s elite police unit has confirmed to the BBC they conducted a search and seizure operation at the home of investigative journalist and author Jacques Pauw.

Mr Pauw published a book last year in which he claimed former President Jacob Zuma received million of dollars as salary from a security company without declaring it to the revenue services.

Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi of the Hawks told me that the warrant was issued by a magistrate.

He said: “We understand that Jacques Pauw is a journalist but the SSA (State Security Agency) says there are serious violations based on the information that was published in his book.

"We are doing this under the National Strategic Intelligence Act which prohibits anyone from disclosing or publishing classified information.”

Mr Pauw’s book, which was a bestseller within days of publication, The President’s Keepers, also accused the former African Union chief Nkosazana Dlamnini Zuma of having dealings with a notorious businessman.

Mr Zuma has denied the allegations contained in the book.

Mr Pauw was not arrested. He is still at his home in the Western Cape town of Riebeek-Kasteel.

Kennedy Gondwe
Lusaka

A Zambian lawmaker has been sentenced to death by hanging after a court found him guilty of shooting dead a security guard.

Keith Mukata, a member of the opposition United Party for National Development, was found guilty of first degree murder by the Lusaka High Court.

Presiding judge Susan Wanjelani sentenced Mukata to death by hanging, but acquitted his girlfriend and co-accused Charmaine Musonda.

The two were both accused of killing security guard Namakau Kalila Kwenda at a law firm in the capital.

Justice Wanjelani said the fact three cartridges were found inside the gate confirms the deceased was shot by a person face to face.

Mukata’s lawyers have indicated they will appeal the sentence.

As much as Zambian laws provide for death penalties, convicts usually have their sentences commuted to life in prison instead.

Rana Jawad
BBC North Africa correspondent, Tunis

Image source, Getty Images

Two migrant detention centres in Libya have been shut down and several others are due to close, according to officials there.

Most of the upcoming closures are down to the poor conditions and the fact they are in residential areas, according to local media.

A total 18 official detention centres have been shut down in recent months, but 34 remain across the country.

The gradual closure of official migrant detention centres in Libya is seen as a positive development because most are reputed to be hubs for abuse.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has confirmed to the BBC that two centres were shutdown on Tuesday.

This week, the head of Libya’s Department for combating irregular migration reportedly said several others will also shutdown because they don’t meet human rights standards.

However, rights observers tell me they would like to see some policy changes in parallel to these moves, including an end to the criminalisation of illegal entry.

Tanzania's ministry of information has banned several songs by the country's top artists for breaching broadcasting laws.

The list includes Hallelujah and Waka Waka by Diamond Platinumz, the country's top musician and an international star.

Some of the music videos feature suggestive dancing and sexual innuendo.

The ministry said in a statement the list of the banned songs was compiled by the state's body in charge of arts and culture.

Here's the statement (in Kiswahili) with the full list of the songs.

Image source, Tanzania ministry of information

Faith Oshoko
BBC Pidgin, Lagos

Image source, Artist for Peace - Sierra Leone/Facebook

A group of musicians in Sierra Leone are on a mission to maintain peace as the West African nation prepares for its elections next month.

Aruna Wahid Dumbuya, spokesman for “Artists for Peace - Sierra Leone”, told me they have been doing “peace tours” around the country to target its youth, in an effort to ease any tensions that may lead to violence during the 7 March vote.

He said this was the organisation's mission since it was was established in 2007 to combat violence during election, with the aim of putting “Sierra Leone ahead of anything else".

“The people most likely to engage in violence are the youth and luckily, they are the ones we connect with through our music. So, I feel we have a greater influence on them than even politicians,” Mr Dumbuya added.

Mr Dumbuya says that after the decade-long civil war, there is no rush to get the nation into another