Africa highlights: 'Bag of cash offered in SA bribe', funeral for ex-BBC reporter

The most startling allegation in the 355-page report by South Africa’s former anti-corruption chief Thuli Madonsela is testimony from Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas that businessman Ajay Gupta offered him 600m rand ($44.6m; £36.2m) last year, "to be deposited in an account of his choice", if he accepted the post of finance minister:

Quote Message: Mr Jonas was walking towards the door, Mr A Gupta made a further offer of R600 million to be deposited in an account of his choice. He asked if Mr Jonas had a bag which he could use to receive and carry R600,000 in cash immediately, which he declined."

Mr Jonas was walking towards the door, Mr A Gupta made a further offer of R600 million to be deposited in an account of his choice. He asked if Mr Jonas had a bag which he could use to receive and carry R600,000 in cash immediately, which he declined."

Mr Zuma's son Duduzane was allegedly there when this offer was made.

Mr Jonas was expected to remove key Treasury officials from their posts and advance the Gupta family's "business ambitions", he is quoted as saying.

The businessman has not yet commented on the report, but has previously denied any wrongdoing.

The report also contains allegations that: 

• Ajay Gupta boasted that as a family they had "made a lot of money from the state", putting the figure at 6bn rand, according to Mr Jonas
• Mr Zuma told former government media chief Themba Maseko that the "Gupta brothers need your help, please help them"
• Mr Gupta asked Mr Maseko to channel advertising to a newspaper the family was setting up
• Former MP Vytjie Mentor was offered the Public Enterprise minister's post by the Guptas; she rejected it
• The board of power utility Eskom appeared to have been improperly constituted
• It made payment of nearly one billion rand to a firm linked to the Guptas and the president's son
• The payments may amount to "wasteful expenditure"
• Eskom boss Brian Molefe and Mr Gupta made 58 telephone calls to one another between August 2015 and March 2016.

BBCCopyright: BBC

The funeral service for our former BBC colleague Chris Simpson has been held today in Senegal’s capital, Dakar.

Chris, a much-respected journalist who travelled to 32 African countries during a career that spanned more than 27 years, died unexpectedly last month at the age of 53.

Mourners, including his relatives some of whom had travelled out from Scotland, came to pay their respects at the International Baptist Church.

His father, William Simpson, said that Chris had been taken from his family too soon, but added: "We found comfort in the fact that we know he died while doing a job he loved and lived for."

He also read a poem that Chris had written not long ago while he was training journalists in Liberia.

It was his own inimitable and amusing guide to what made a good journalist.

Just before he died, Chris gave an interview to West Africa Democracy Radio, which was also played today during the funeral:

In the interview, he said that the three words that best summed him up were "disorganised, comical and naive".  

Chris was laid to rest after the service at Saint Lazare cemetery, in north Dakar.

Read more:

• Farewell Chris Simpson by John James
• The Crack in Gambia's smile

In BBC Africa's series of African Women you Should Know we feature Theresa Kachindamoto, a senior chief of a district in Malawi who is fighting the practice of child marriage with impressive results. 

Parents in rural areas marry off girls as young as 12.  

Chief Kachindamoto says she has terminated 840 marriages, sending the young couples back to school. 

Watch her story below:

At least 17 people have been detained in South Sudan, most of them soldiers, suspected of committing rape and other crimes in July during an attack on a hotel in the capital, Juba.

It comes a day after the UN said it was sacking its force commander for failing to respond to pleas from aid workers, who were based at the hotel.

South Sudan's Deputy Justice Minister Martison Oturomoi told reporters that the soldiers had “exploited the war to do their own criminal acts”, the Associated Press news agency reports.

He cited soldiers raping women and killing the journalist, John Gatluak, based on his ethnicity, the Associated Press news agency reports.

A special court would also be set up, reports the Reuters news agency.

Quote Message: "Given the fact that most of the suspects are members of the military, the [investigation] committee proposed that the special court to be constituted should be a special military court." from Martison Oturomoi

"Given the fact that most of the suspects are members of the military, the [investigation] committee proposed that the special court to be constituted should be a special military court."

In August, the BBC's Newsnight programme got actors to read the testimonies of those caught up in the violence on 11 July:

In July 2014, a Liberian diplomat called Patrick Sawyer flew to Nigeria on his way to a conference. He was taken ill at an airport in Lagos and collapsed. 

At the time, government hospitals were on strike and there were no public doctors to treat him. So Mr Sawyer was taken to a private medical centre run by Dr Ameyo Adadevoh. 

Her action is credited with ensuring that - unlike neighbouring countries - Nigeria had no widespread Ebola outbreak and she's seen as a hero. 

Dr Adadevoh's son Bankole Cardoso shared her story with BBC's Outlook programme.

Listen below:

AfCopyright: Af

The US government has begun deporting scores of Liberians deemed "undesirable" because they have committed various crimes or offences. 

The first batch of around 20 were flown into Monrovia, Liberia's capital, today.

Liberia's ambassador to the US, Jeremiah Solunteh, told state radio that 53 of those to be deported have already "been processed" and are awaiting deportation. In the end between 100 and 200 will be deported.

The Liberians are coming home just as tens of thousands of others rush to meet the 7 November deadline for playing the annual US government's diversity visa lotto. 

It gives non-Americans an opportunity to live and work in the US. 

Liberia was founded in the 19th Century by freed black slaves repatriated from the US following the end of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. 

There are thousands of Liberians currently living in the US under the government's so-called Temporary Protection Status as a consequence of the civil war that ended 13 years ago.

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Foreign students studying at Uganda's Makerere University's main campus in the capital, Kampala, have been left stranded after the university closed following a government order.

Gabriel Deng, 23, from South Sudan is one of thousands of foreign students at the university. He's a first-year student studying veterinary medicine.   

He comes from Bor in Jonglei State, north of South Sudan's capital, Juba.

He stays in a private hostel near the university which has also been directed to close because the police say the presence of students there is a security threat (see earlier reports).

BBCCopyright: BBC

South Africa's leader may be pleased that tomorrow he's off to neighbouring Zimbabwe on business, given events today and the publication of the report into alleged government corruption.

The BBC's new reporter in Harare has some details about what's on Jacob Zuma's agenda:

This year's Lagos Photo Festival in Nigeria brings together well-known photographers and their take on African identity in the 21st Century. 

Here Kenyan photographer Osborne Macharia imagines how retired businesswomen could look in a series called Nyanye - League of Extravagant Grannies:

Lagos Photo FestivalCopyright: Lagos Photo Festival

Other works look at fashion queens and consider tradition in the modern age, with a couple wearing "boubous" along with fetish wear.

Click here to see a gallery we've put together.

And if you're in Lagos, you can go along yourself to see many more photos on show until 22 November.

South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma withdrew his application to stop the publication of report on alleged government corruption “in the interest of justice and speedy resolution of the matter”.

His office says he may consider legal action after studying the report.

Quote Message: The president will give consideration to the contents of the report in order to ascertain whether it should be a subject of a court challenge."

The president will give consideration to the contents of the report in order to ascertain whether it should be a subject of a court challenge."

AFPCopyright: AFP

Kenya has accused the UN of  "a high degree of disrespect" after it dismissed Kenyan Lt Gen Johnson Mogoa Kimani Ondiek, as commander of the UN force in South Sudan. 

UN chief Ban Ki-moon ordered his immediate replacement yesterday after an internal report backed allegations by aid workers that the UN troops refused to respond when government soldiers attacked an international aid compound in Juba in July.

A statement from Kenya's foreign ministry said that it rejects the sacking and says it will withdraw its troops from 13,000 strong UN force, known as Unmiss.

Here are some of the other highlights from the statement:

Quote Message: What is clear is that Unmiss's fundamental structural and systemic dys-functionality which has severely hindered its ability to discharge its mandate since its inception.

What is clear is that Unmiss's fundamental structural and systemic dys-functionality which has severely hindered its ability to discharge its mandate since its inception.

Quote Message: Instead of addressing these shortcomings directly, the United Nations has instead opted to unfairly attribute them to a single individual... but insulates the Department of Peacekeeping Operations from the hard questions it needs to answer.

Instead of addressing these shortcomings directly, the United Nations has instead opted to unfairly attribute them to a single individual... but insulates the Department of Peacekeeping Operations from the hard questions it needs to answer.

Quote Message: The process leading to this unfortunate decision not only lacked transparency but did not involve any formal consultation with the government of Kenya. This demonstrates complete disregard to our key role and responsibility in South Sudan.

The process leading to this unfortunate decision not only lacked transparency but did not involve any formal consultation with the government of Kenya. This demonstrates complete disregard to our key role and responsibility in South Sudan.

Quote Message: The manner in which the information was conveyed to the government of Kenya revealed a high degree of disrespect for our country and lack of confidence in our troops and their contribution in regional peace processes."

The manner in which the information was conveyed to the government of Kenya revealed a high degree of disrespect for our country and lack of confidence in our troops and their contribution in regional peace processes."

South Africans have been reacting to a report prepared by the former anti-corruption chief that alleges that there's evidence of corruption at the top levels of President Jacob Zuma's government. 

Many are commenting on the revelation that Mcebisi Jonas, the deputy finance minister, allegedly refused a 600m South African rand ($44m, £35m) bribe from the influential Gupta family to become the finance minister to help in their bidding:

Some have chosen to highlight other juicy allegations of the report:

Others are a bit more sceptical about the instant comments and analysis, wondering if they are all speed readers:

AFPCopyright: AFP

South Africa's long-awaited report into allegations of corruption involving President Zuma has been released, recommending that a commission be set up to probe the influence of top businessmen on the government (see earlier posts). 

The woman behind the so-called State Capture Report is Thuli Mandonsela, who stepped down as the country's anti-corruption tsar last month after seven years. 

When she left office, the BBC's Karen Allen looked at her legacy, noting she had a background in the trade unions.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Her inquiries during her time as public protector, the anti-corruption watchdog, have led to the sacking of some of the most senior figures in the country. 

She has investigated police chiefs, opposition politicians and the president - twice: 

•  Over multi-million dollar security upgrades to his private Nkandla home; 
• And over his connection with the wealthy Gupta family (the report that has just been published). 

Our correspondent says in so doing, she rose out of the bureaucratic morass to become a breath of fresh air for a South African public clamouring for more accountability from their public servants and leaders.

Read more: South Africa's corruption crusader

AFPCopyright: AFP

This report is bad for President Jacob Zuma but certainly not as damning as opposition parties and many others had hoped when they went to court.

The findings and subsequent remedial action seem to kick the can down the road. 

It says that the president should appoint a judicial commission of inquiry. 

This means that President Zuma would still occupy the highest office in the land for many months to come, as he slowly approaches the end of his second and last term.

There is no doubt that should the inquiry recommend that President Zuma be censured, there would be grounds for impeachment.

But that would present a political problem in the house of assembly because Mr Zuma’s own party, the African National Congress (ANC), holds an overwhelming majority.

The loyal MPs have overcome many attempts by the opposition to have a vote of no confidence in the president.

 Mr Zuma lives to fight another day but he must surely be nearing the last of his nine lives.

BBCCopyright: BBC

Students have been packing up and leaving their halls of residence at the main campus of Makerere University in Uganda after the president ordered its closure in the wake of lecturers' strike (see earlier post). 

One student told me the lecturers were justified in going on strike as they had waited eight months for their pay, but he thinks the decision to close the university was harsh. 

Some say they come from far outside the capital, Kampala, and it’s difficult for them to go home so abruptly. 

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Others are disappointed that they're losing studying time so soon into the academic year, which started in August. 

They say they’ve already lost a month as it was non-teaching staff who were striking before the lecturers.   

The main building of the campus, also known as "the Ivory Tower" is now almost deserted:

BBCCopyright: BBC

Public Protector's OfficeCopyright: Public Protector's Office

The findings of an investigation into allegations of corruption in South African President Jacob Zuma's government have been released.

Here are four key points from the 355-page document, published by the anti-corruption watchdog: 

1. It says it has seen evidence which shows crimes might have been committed at a top government level
2. It recommends that a commission for further inquiry, headed by a judge, be set up within 30 days to investigate the alleged influence the wealthy Gupta family had on government appointments 
3. The new commission should present its findings and recommendations to the president within 180 days
4. The report says Mr Zuma may have broken the Prevention of Corruption Act for failing to investigate allegations that two people were offered ministerial roles by the Guptas.

Titled State of Capture, the report has been released in full and is available online for public access.

AFPCopyright: AFP

South Africa's governing African National Congress (ANC) has welcomed the release of a report by the country's former anti-corruption tsar, which shows possible evidence of corruption at top levels of government (see earlier posts).

"It is quite important in order to defend and protect the character of a democratic state," the party's spokesman Zizi Kodwa told eNCA TV, Reuters reports.

This adds to pressure on President Jacob Zuma to resign because of a series of scandals.

He has lately come under pressure from all sides, even many in the ANC.

The president is also at the centre of another case and is trying to overturn a unanimous ruling of a High Court that he should stand trial on 783 counts of corruption in relation to an arms deal negotiated in 1999.  

Shortly after South Africa's anti-corruption watchdog released the so-called State Capture report, the News 24 website made the report available online to be downloaded. 

It is the result of an investigation into allegations that the wealthy Gupta family wielded undue influence on the government. 

President Jacob Zuma and the Guptas both deny any wrongdoing. 

Read it here