Milton Nkosi
BBC Africa, Johannesburg

Image source, AFP

Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini has told thousands of his subjects at a traditional royal gathering, known as Imbizo, that he will not allow the South African government to take away land from him.

The king is opposed to a recommendation by a government panel which said that the land trust he presides over, the Ingonyama Trust, should be scrapped.

Through the trust, the monarch controls 30,000 sq km (11,600 sq miles) of land through traditional leaders who are appointed on behalf of communities.

But the leader of the government panel, former President Kgalema Motlanthe, wants people to be given title deeds for the land they occupy, saying they do not benefit from the king's trust.

The king said that he will not give up land his forefathers fought for in colonial times.

Referring to his world-famous ancestor King Shaka, who founded the Zulu nation, King Zwelithini said: "I was born from a brave man and that is why I know I will be victorious against those who are trying to take my land."

It comes at a crucial time as South Africa is debating changing the constitution to allow the expropriation of land without compensation to reverse colonial land distribution.

Image source, Ralimanana

A wild banana that may hold the key to protecting the world's edible banana crop has been put on the extinction list.

The species is found only in Madagascar, where there are just five mature trees left in the wild.

Scientists say the plant needs to be conserved, as it may hold the secret to keeping bananas safe for the future.

Most bananas consumed around the world are of a type known as the Cavendish, which is vulnerable to a plant pest.

The race is on to develop new banana varieties that are both tasty to eat and resilient enough to survive attack from Panama disease.

The Madagascan banana has evolved in isolation on an island cut off from the mainland, and may have special properties.

• Read the full story on the BBC News website

Image source, AFP

Privately owned Kenyan news site The Standard reports, external that 10 vendors have been arrested for selling meat wrapped in newspapers.

“Newspapers are published using ink which contains lead and other heavy metals whose consumption can kill human beings,” a regional health official for Homa Bay county - where the raid took place - is quoted as saying.

He told The Standard that plain paper - either white or brown - should be used instead.

The 10 people arrested - reportedly a mix of butchers and traders who had bought meat from them - are said to have violated a 14-day warning telling them to stop wrapping their wares in newspapers.

The Standard reports that the suspects will be charged in court.

In an apparent attack on the press, President Uhuru Kenyatta was quoted by local media in 2015 as saying , externalKenyan newspapers were only fit for wrapping meat.

France's President Emmanuel Macron has told Nigerians that now the Super Eagles are out of the World Cup, they should support the French team. He tweeted his remarks made to young basketball players during his visit to Lagos:

BBC Africa Sport's Nick Cavell says France has 14 players in the squad who would be able to play for an African team.

Indeed two of the players have siblings who do so:

• Paul Pogba's brother Florentin plays for Guinea (and also played for France's U20 team)
• Steve Mandanda's brother Parfait plays for the Democratic Republic of Congo (and also played France's U21 team).

France next play Uruguay in a quarter-final match on Friday.

Image source, Louise Gubb/Getty Images

The organisers of an online auction in South Africa which offered the chance to spend a night in Nelson Mandela’s former prison on Robben Island have removed it from their website.

CEO Sleepout has told the BBC the auction has been postponed to a later date this year.

The charity had planned the event to mark the day Mandela, who died in 2013 at the age of 95, would have turned 100 - 18 July.

Bidders are instead being given the opportunity to stay the night in Liliesleaf farm, external, a property owned by the late president and anti-apartheid leader. The URL for the Robben Island competition now redirects to the Liliesleaf farm page. Opening bids start at $11,000 (£8,300), and the charity says the farm can host up to 400 people.

The raid on the farm, which was an ANC hideout, led to the Rivonia Trial - which saw Mandela and other anti-apartheid activists jailed. The farm opened as a museum in 2013.

Sheffield's Lord Mayor has "banned" US President Donald Trump from visiting the city.

Magid Magid made the announcement while chairing a Sheffield City Council meeting and donning a sombrero "in solidarity" with Mexico.

The Green Party councillor tweeted Mr Trump was a "wasteman" and "henceforth banned from the great city of Sheffield".

Elected in May, the 28-year-old is the city's youngest ever mayor.

The council said Mr Magid does not have the power to ban anyone from the city, but that full council "may through a collective, democratic debate and process, agree to condemn the views of an individual or organisation".

Image source, FAMILY PHOTO

The mayor tweeted, external: "I Magid Magid, Lord Mayor & first citizen of this city hereby declare that not only is Donald J Trump a WASTEMAN, but he is also henceforth banned from the great city of Sheffield!

"I further declare July 13th to be Mexico Solidarity Day!"

Mr Trump is due to come to the UK for his state visit on 13 July but Mr Magid admitted he is unlikely to visit Sheffield.

• Read the full story on the BBC News website

BBC World Service

Image source, afp

Equatorial Guinea's president has declared a general amnesty for all political prisoners.

President Teodoro Obiang Nguema's decree was read on national television.

Opposition parties had demanded the release of political detainees as one of the conditions for taking part in what the president has called a national dialogue.

Earlier this year, Equatorial Guinea's main opposition party Citizens for Innovation was dissolved by the authorities and 21 of its members were given long jail sentences following what the government said was a coup attempt by mercenaries.

Mr Obiang seized power in a coup in 1979.

Is’haq Khalid
BBC Africa, Abuja

Nigeria's governing APC party has split in two. The rift is seen as a major threat to President Muhammadu Buhari’s bid for a second term in office with presidential and parliamentary elections less than a year away.

The APC came to power in 2015 and has been plagued with an internal crisis for more than a year. This worsened recently following the election of new national and local leaders as some key party members alleged they were treated unfairly.

The APC's breakaway faction, known as Reformed APC, is led by Buba Galadima, a former ally of President Buhari.

It is believed to have the backing of some senior Nigerian politicians including the senate president, speaker of the lower house of parliament and some state governors.

They say that President Buhari’s government is incompetent. The splinter group is likely to join forces with the opposition to challenge Mr Buhari as he seeks re-election next February.

Image source, AFP

Our proverb of the day:

Image source, NurPhoto/Getty Images

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

Welcome back to BBC Africa Live, where we will be bringing you the latest news and views from around the continent.

BBC Africa Live
Lucy Fleming

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

A reminder of our wise words for the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And I leave with these photos of a seven-year-old surfing in Nigeria - taken by the BBC's Grace Ekpu.

BBC World Service

Image source, EPA

Scientists say the loss of the northern white rhino could be reversed by in vitro fertilisation (IVF) - months after the last male died in Kenya.

The scientists say they have produced viable embryos using the sperm of deceased animals.

They were made using the eggs of a very closely related sub-species - the southern white rhino - which were fertilised with sperm from dead males.

One of the scientists, Prof Thomas Hildebrandt from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin, says the same method could be used to bring the world's most endangered mammal back from the brink.

He says they are now on track to produce a test tube baby rhino in just a few years.

Religious leaders in Kenya have urged President Uhuru Kenyatta to declare the levels of corruption in the country a national disaster so the fight to tackle it can be made a priority.

Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper quotes Archbishop Martin Kivuva as saying:

Many Kenyans encounter corruption on an almost daily basis - from small bribes paid to police officers to mass theft from government coffers, the most recent example of which involved a scheme to get unemployed youth back to work.

Close to $80m (£61m) were embezzled from National Youth Service.

The clerics from the Dialogue Reference Group called for an amnesty for anyone who admitted to past offences and repaid what they had stolen.

Image source, Reuters

An 11-year-old Nigerian won over Emmanuel Macron with his portrait of the French president.

Kareem Waris Olamilekan did the drawing within two hours on Tuesday night when Mr Macron was visiting Fela Kuti's Shrine nightclub in Lagos.

Mr Macron tweeted a video of him congratulating the boy:

Kareem told BBC Africa recently that he was inspired by the artists Michelangelo and Arinze Stanley Egbengwu. Watch the young artist at work:

• See the earlier post of President Macron partying at the Shrine

Image source, A Zimbabwe rugby player

The Tunisian Rugby Union has said it "strongly deplores" the "anti-sports and unethical actions" of Zimbabwe's national team after they slept on the streets before a World Cup qualifier.

Zimbabwe said they were were unhappy with the poor standard of their hotel in Beja, which is about 100km (60 miles) west of the capital, Tunis.

The Tunisian Rugby Union said Zimbabwe's actions did not reflect their "strong ties of friendship".

They added Zimbabwe "started complaining" as soon as they landed in the capital, Tunis.

The Tunisian union said a statement:

Read the BBC Sports story for more.

Watch French President Emmanuel Macron trying his hand at speaking Pidgin during his visit to Lagos, Nigeria:

• See the earlier post of President Macron partying at Fela Kuti's Shrine nightclub

Elias Hordofa
BBC Afaan Oromoo

Image source, AFP

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has fired five top prison bosses accused of human rights violations and other misconduct.

Attorney General Berhanu Tsegaye announced on state TV that Mr Abiy had replaced them as they had failed in their duty.

He said the needs of prisoners had not been adequately met and their human rights had not been respected:

The attorney general also made it clear that those who have been fired would face an investigation.

The Ethiopian government has released tens of thousands of prisoners since Mr Abiy took office in April.

Image source, AFP

An auction is being held in South Africa for the opportunity to spend a night in Nelson Mandela’s former prison on Robben Island.

A charity is taking bids, opening at $250,000 (£330,000), to allow 67 people to stay overnight in the old maximum-security jail, where the former South African anti-apartheid leader spent 18 of his 27 years behind bars.

The event is being organised by a group known as CEO Sleepout to mark the day Mandela, who died in 2013 at the age of 95, would have turned 100.

It says bids close at midnight local time on 17 July, the day before his birthday:

Mr Mandela was released in 1990 as South Africa began to move away from strict racial segregation - a process completed by the first multi-racial elections in 1994 when he became the country’s first black president.

Some of the money raised in the auction will be given to a US group providing prisoners with access to public university-level education, CEO Sleepout said.

So far three bids have been registered on the charity's website, external.

Read more about the notorious island, within sight of the city of Cape Town and Table Mountain, which for three centuries was a prison - punctuated by a period as a leper colony:

• How Mandela survived 27 years in prison

Anthony Irungu
BBC Africa, Kenya

Irene Auma has been teaching yoga to prisoners in Kenya to help rehabilitate them.

The yoga instructor told BBC Africa how yoga can help build prisoners' self-esteem:

Image source, AFP

Fifa boss Gianni Infantino has told the BBC that he is sad no African team made it to the knock-out stages of the World Cup.

All five African teams - Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia - exited this year's competition in the group stages.

He told the BBC's Piers Edwards in Moscow:

With regard to criticism over fair play rulings, the Fifa president said there would be a debrief after the tournament to see if anything could be done better.

After Japan and Senegal finished level on points, goals scored and goal difference, the Africans became the first team to exit a World Cup because of their disciplinary record.

Knowing the situation, Japan - for whom extra bookings could have resulted in elimination -played out the final 10 minutes of their game against Poland at walking pace despite trailing 1-0.

The Senegalese Football Federation has written a letter of complaint to Fifa, saying teams should be punished for playing in a way which it says went against the principles of football.

Watch the whole interview here, which include his thoughts on VAR (video assistant referee):

Read more: What went wrong for Africa at the World Cup?