Africa highlights: Oldest-known Mandela TV interview found, Africa internet satellite explodes

1. Oldest Mandela TV interview discovered
2. Satellite aimed at boosting African internet explodes on the ground
3. Gabon opposition leader Ping 'in hiding' after clashes
4. Facebook founder Zuckerberg in Kenya
5. Annular eclipse visible across swathe of central Africa
6. Free drug treatment available for all HIV positive South Africans
7. Unicef says millions missing out on primary education
8. Get Involved: #BBCAfricaLive WhatsApp: [phone]
9. Email stories and comments to [e-mail] - Thursday 1 September 2016

Scroll down for Thursday's stories

That's all from the BBC Africa Live page this week. 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 today's wise words:

A fox does not escort a chicken."

An Acholi proverb sent by Maryano Otto, Kampala, Uganda

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

And we leave you with this picture of Nigerian cocoa farmer Oluranti Adeboye showing off his crop:

AFP

Gabon opposition leader: They have been cheating everywhere

Gabon opposition leader Jean Ping has been speaking to BBC Focus on Africa following his defeat in the presidential election, which he disputes. 

He explained why he is calling for a vote recount in the stronghold of President Ali Bongo, which saw a near-100% turnout according to official results:

Opposition candidate Jean Ping disputes the election results and calls for a recount

Facebook 'disappointed' by satellite explosion

As we've been reporting, a rocket carrying a satellite that was part of a Facebook project to extend internet access in Africa has exploded on the launch pad.

"We are disappointed by the loss but remain committed to our mission of connecting people to the Internet around the world," a Facebook spokesperson told tech website The Verge.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is currently in Kenya where he has been speaking about improving access to the internet.

Reuters

The rocket exploded on the launch pad in Florida

Zimbabwe police ban demonstrations for two weeks

Stanley Kwenda

BBC Africa

Police in Zimbabwe have today issued an order banning all public demonstrations in the central business district of the capital, Harare for the next two weeks. 

Central Harare has been the scene of violent demonstrations over the last few weeks by restive civic and political groups. 

Opposition political parties had planned another demonstration on Friday to press the electoral commission to make reforms ahead of the 2018 general election but have now cancelled the demonstration following this order. 

The opposition parties are planning to challenge the measure but have also indicated that they will now look to stage future demonstrations in the country's second city of Bulawayo.

AFP

There were violent demonstrations in Harare last week

Cattle railway line opens in Nigeria

Nigeria has opened a railway line to transport cattle from the north to the south of the country. 

An initial livestock consignment of around 500 cows has begun the 750km journey from the city of Gusau to the commercial capital, Lagos. 

It should take two days. 

Trucks need an average of seven days to make the same journey by road, and many animals die in transit. 

The government estimates that the cattle trade between the north and south of Nigeria is worth nearly $300m (£225m) annually, but the poor road network is hampering the business. 

AFP

Mandela's oldest TV interview discovered

What is thought to be the first TV interview with the anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela has been discovered, the Nelson Mandela Foundation says.

The clip lasts just 24 seconds and the Foundation says it was filmed by a Dutch broadcaster during a break in Mr Mandela's treason trial.

That began in 1956 and ended in March 1961, when he was acquitted along with 27 others.

The interview was broadcast in January 1961 as part of a programme about apartheid.

In the clip he says:

From the very beginning, the African National Congress set itself the task of fighting against white supremacy.

We have always regarded as wrong for one racial group to dominate another racial group.

And from the very beginning the African National Congress has fought, without hesitation, against all forms of racial discrimination and we shall continue to do so until freedom is achieved."

BBC special coverage on Nelson Mandela

Lagos cafe owners given 10 minutes' notice before demolition

Stephanie Hegarty

BBC Africa, Lagos

At about 09:15 local time, Lagos State Government officials and police came to the strip mall of small businesses on Rumens Road, Ikoyi with bulldozers and cranes and told business owners they were going to demolish the strip. 

The mall had two cafes, a small convenience store, a vegetable shop, a pharmacy, a bar and a dance studio. 

The owner of Nuli Juice, a juice and health food company said staff were running around in the rain trying to pull fittings from the walls and throwing furniture out of the door. 

BBC

They said the demolition team told them they had a directive from the Lagos state governor to destroy the premises and that the landlord had been given notice of the demolition in March. 

But business owner Ada Osakwe who opened Nuli six weeks ago, only started doing up her shop in May. 

None of the business owners have succeeded in contacting the landlord yet. And Lagos State government has yet to comment.

Satellite for Africa internet 'blown up in space rocket explosion'

There has been an explosion on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral in Florida, where the aerospace company SpaceX was readying an unmanned rocket for launch.

The company has tweeted that both the vehicle and its payload was lost.

And it's the payload that was of interest to Africa.

The Florida newspaper, the Orlando Sentinel, reported on Tuesday that the satellite on board was part of Facebook's effort to extend internet access across the continent.

The intention was to deliver internet from space, it adds.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is on a trip to Africa where he has been speaking about his company's plans for the continent.

NASA

President Bongo: We will take steps to guarantee security

AFP

President Ali Bongo has been posting excerpts from his address on Twitter (in French):

My love for Gabon and the relationship that binds me to it have led me to propose a double project for the country."

He continues in subsequent tweets: 

This project can be summed up in two words: 'democracy and progress. The two are linked, because progress is a collective project. This project, which is close to my heart, has led me to scrupulously follow the electoral code and never to interfere with it."

He goes on to discuss the violence that has broken out since his victory was announced:

I would like to express my sadness at the death of some of our fellow citizens. We need to put progress back on track in all our towns and villages.

All the decisions needed to guarantee our country's security are being taken and will be taken. We're talking about the future of Gabon. We are going to write it together."

AFP

Protesters set fire to Gabon's partliament overnight

Gabon makes '1,000 arrests' following election unrest

Around 1,000 people have been arrested in Gabon , AFP news agency reports, quoting the interior minister. 

"In [the capital] Libreville, between 600 and 800 people have been detained, with 200 to 300 in the rest of the country," Pacome Moubelet-Boubeya said at a press conference shortly after President Ali Bongo's TV address, AFP adds. 

President Bongo makes address

Gabon's President Ali Bongo has addressed a press conference as unrest continues across the country following his disputed election victory: 

Democracy doesn't sit well with self-proclaimed victory, with groups formed to cause destruction. Democracy is not compatible with an attack on [the building of] national TV and on parliament."

Different ways of viewing the eclipse

This morning's annular eclipse passed over Mbeya in southern Tanzania.

The BBC's Leonard Mubali said hundreds turned out to watch including school children and some tourists.

BBC

Looking directly at the eclipse is potentially damaging to your eyesight.

One photographer in Tanzania's main city of Dar es Salaam saw people using a puddle to view the phenomenon.

AFP

Prison beauty queen 'will strive to be a role model'

Ruth Kamande has been crowned Miss Lang'ata Prison after a beauty contest in the prison, which is in Kenya's capital, Nairobi.

BBC

She told the BBC's John Nene that she "didn't expect to win because there was stiff competition".

My victory has boosted my morale despite the tough life inside here but I have learnt a lot. I will strive to be a role model to my colleagues here on remand."

John met her today when she was back in her remand clothes.

He took a picture of her (centre) with the first runner-up Tina Martin (left) and the second runner-up Susan Wairimu (right):

BBC

Ms Kamande is waiting for her trial for allegedly murdering her boyfriend.

The Star newspaper reports that she is accused of stabbing him 22 times.

Gabon president due to address the nation

President Ali Bongo is due to make a speech shortly, according to this tweet from his official account: 

Kenyans enjoying Zuckerberg's food choice

Like any good Facebook user, the founder of the company Mark Zuckerberg is updating everyone on his travels and what he's having to eat.

He's posted a picture of himself tucking into some local cuisine:

Mark Zuckerberg/Facebook

He writes that he enjoyed his meal with Kenya's Information Minister Joseph Mucheru and they discussed internet access.

And he then writes:

We ate at MAMA Oliech Restaurant. -- a local place everyone recommended. One of my favorite parts of traveling to a new country is trying the food. I enjoyed ugali and a whole fried tilapia for the first time and loved them both!"

Kenyans are discussing his choice of restaurant and food on social media.

One person jokingly suggests that Mr Zuckerberg has started a trend for Kenyans to eat local food at roadside food kiosks, known as vibandas.

How reliable are Gabon's election results?

AFP

Injured protesters are being treated at hospitals in the capital Libreville

Amid the unrest in Gabon, there have been calls for a complete breakdown of results by polling station.

Opposition allegations of fraud centre on results from the province of Haut-Ogooue, a stronghold of President Ali Bongo. 

An opposition representative on the country's electoral commission (Cenap) reportedly described them as a "shameful lie" to journalists shortly before Mr Bongo was declared the election winner. 

Several other opposition-supporting Cenap members abstained from the final vote to validate the poll results. 

Mr Bongo took more than 95% of the vote in Haut-Ogooue (see tweet from the interior ministry below).

But the figure which has provoked the most debate is the turnout of 99.93% (in small font at the bottom), which one EU election monitor called "not a very common result". 

Gabon's national electoral commission has the worst levels of public trust of any African country, according to this survey from humanitarian news agency Irin:

Tourist hot air balloon flights grounded in Egypt

The governor of the ancient Egyptian city of Luxor has grounded all hot air balloon flights indefinitely. 

The decision comes hours after a group of 22 Chinese tourists were injured when their hot air balloon crash-landed after a gust of wind blew it off course. 

A review of safety measures and equipment has been launched. 

Flights only recently resumed after a balloon caught fire in 2013 killing all 19 tourists on board.

AP

Hot air balloon flights are popular over Luxor's Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens

Didier Drobga charity probe nearly finished

A report into the "serious regulatory concerns" surrounding a charity run by Didier Drogba is due to be released by the Charity Commission within a month.

In April, the Daily Mail claimed that just £14,115 out of £1.7m donated to the Didier Drogba Foundation had gone to help causes in Africa.

The Charity Commission launched an investigation into the case, and says that is now "coming to a close".

Ex-Chelsea striker Drogba threatened legal action over the claims.

AP

The 38-year-old called the Mail's story "false and defamatory", and said in a statement: "There is no fraud, no corruption, no mismanagement and no lies."

The Mail said it "stands by every word of this important story" and had not alleged corruption or fraud.

The Didier Drogba Foundation was launched in the UK in 2009 when the former Ivory Coast captain was playing for Chelsea.

The African charity is run in the Ivory Coast but is also registered in the UK.

Read more from BBC Sport.

Presidential guards 'used helicopter to bomb opposition HQ'

Abdourahmane Dia

BBC Afrique, Dakar

AFP

Police, some in plain clothes, have been patrolling the capital

Gabon's opposition leader Jean Ping has told the BBC a presidential guard helicopter bombed his headquarters and killed two people overnight.

He also told the BBC that other security elements ransacked his home. He is now in hiding with members of his family. 

He wants the UN to supervise a detailed recount of votes, echoing calls from the US and the European Union. 

President Bongo's spokesperson Alain-Claude Bilie By Nze declared that the opposition has exaggerated the scope of the violence, while confirming that one person was killed during the raid on the opposition HQ. 

He also rejected accusations of fraud, saying that he did not see anything wrong with the president winning by a wide margin in his political stronghold. 

Several analysts have contested the official results from the region of Haut-Ogooue, where the turnout reached nearly 100% and President Ali Bongo took 95% of the vote.

Overall turnout was 59%. 

Read the full story 

Bongo spokesman: Opposition should raise concerns in court

Gabon's presidential spokesman has said that those who are unhappy with election results, which gave Ali Bongo a narrow victory, should go through the country's legal system.

Alain-Claude Bilie By Nze spoke to Radio France Internationale earlier this morning:

"It's in all our interest for things to calm down, because Gabon is not a dictatorship. It is a democracy with laws. If someone wants to contest the election results, they can launch a dispute at the Constitutional Court. For those who want a vote recount, they can go through the courts to do it."

Read the latest BBC News story on Gabon