Zuma seeks clarity:

Africa

South African President Jacob Zuma has asked parliament to explain the process it followed in passing a bill allowing state expropriations of land to redress racial disparities in land ownership.

Land is an emotive issue in Africa’s most industrialised country more than two decades after the end of apartheid, with most of the land still in white hands.

Zuma said he needed to clarify how the bill was passed, before deciding whether to sign it into law or refer it back to the legislature, the presidency said in a statement on Tuesday.

“President Zuma received petitions against the signing of the Bill into law from individuals and various organisations,” the presidency said.

In the pipeline since 2008, the bill has been criticized by opposition parties, with some saying it was unconstitutional.

The ruling African National Congress said the bill would tackle injustices imposed during white-minority rule. (RTRS)

Petrol tanker fire kills two:

Two people were killed and several hurt when a stationary petrol tanker exploded after being rammed by a speeding vehicle on a busy road in Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos, an emergency official said Tuesday.

“The accident happened on Monday evening around Cele bus stop. The petrol-laden tanker caught fire on impact after a vehicle on high speed rammed into it,” Ibrahim Farinloye of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) told AFP.

“The driver and the conductor were burnt without recognition while several other people were injured in the ensuing stampede,” he said.

He said the tanker driver had parked to check a burst tyre when the collision occurred, causing the tanker to spill petrol into drainages.

The raging fire spread to the entire dual carriageway, forcing motorists to spend long hours on the road in a city notorious for regular traffic jams, he said.

Farinloye said it took fire fighters several hours before they could put out the inferno. (AFP)

Man paid to have sex arrested:

Malawian President Peter Mutharika ordered the arrest Tuesday of a man paid to have sex with more than 100 adolescent girls as part of a traditional ritual marking their passage to womanhood.

The order was issued after the man from the southern district of Nsanje gave a media interview confessing to have slept with the girls for a fee of between four and seven dollars paid by each of their families.

“I order police to immediately arrest Mr Eric Aniva, investigate him and take him to court forthwith for defilement cases,” Mutharika said in a statement. This little-known local practice is performed in southern Malawi by men known as “hyenas” at the behest of a girl’s parents after her first menstruation.

The ritual is believed to train girls to become good wives and to protect them from disease, or misfortune could fall on their families or their village.