May 29, 2015.
For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Sane Dhlamini.
Making headlines:

Sports minister Fikile Mbalula rejects the FIFA bribery allegations with the ‘contempt they deserve’.

Fractious handover clouds of Muhammadu Buhari’s Nigeria succession.

And, Police Minister Nathi Nhleko exonerated President Jacob Zuma over the money spent on Nkandla.

Sports minister Fikile Mbalula on Thursday reprimanded US authorities for disregarding diplomatic channels and announcing South Africa’s alleged involvement in the FIFA corruption scandal before informing the South African government first.

The nation was left reeling this week after the Americans alleged that ‘‘high-ranking South African officials“ offered a $10-million bribe to help secure the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

Mbalula said that the government only found out about South Africa’s alleged involvement in the biggest scandal to rock the football governing body through newspapers and international wire services‚ and not through the proper channels as should have been the case.

Mbalula said “there was nothing that implicated the South African government” in the alleged bribery adding that they rejected those allegations with the contempt they deserve”.

As he entered his final week in office, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan offered up a prayer for the success of Muhammadu Buhari, the former military ruler who takes the helm of Africa's biggest economy today.

However, if Buhari's All Progressives Congress (or APC) was to be believed, that goodwill did not stretch as far as the thousands of pro-Jonathan bureaucrats preparing for Nigeria's first democratic transfer of power.

APC spokesperson Lai Mohammed said the whole scenario reeked of sabotage that laid bare the party's frustrations with the behaviour of Jonathan's outgoing and scandal-plagued administration.

The strike by fuel distributors served as a reminder to Buhari of the challenges he will face in Africa's top crude producer, including a weakening currency and an insurgency by Boko Haram Islamist militants that has claimed thousands of lives.

Police Minister Nathi Nhleko says that the firepool‚ amphitheatre‚ kraal‚ chicken run and visitor's centre at the president's Nkandla home are all security features and Jacob Zuma is not liable for any costs associated with them.

In summarising his 51-page investigation into the features, Nhleko said that not only were these security features‚ but investigations revealed that certain elements needed to be urgently upgraded and fixed. Public Protector Thuli Madonsela had earlier questioned these additions as being security related.

Nhleko said the firepool was "the most important security feature" while the animal enclosure‚ and chicken run were "critical security components".

The visitor's centre was "strategic as well as crucial" while the amphitheatre had a "clear security purpose".

Nhleko added that the president was "entitled to all the rights that every citizen enjoys" including the right to privacy.

Also making headlines:
The head of the European Union delegation to South Africa, Ambassador Roeland van de Geer, expects a quieter year in relations between the 28-member-country bloc and South Africa.

Economist Mike Schussler said revelations that two South Africans allegedly bribed FIFA with $10-million for the country to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup may have tarnished the country’s image.

There are growing indications that the South Africa government is seeking to change gears in the area of black economic empowerment with the departments of Trade and Industry and the Economic Development planning to leverage public procurement, incentive schemes and development finance to support emerging and existing black industrialists.

Libya is on the verge of economic collapse as rival factions haggle over a political settlement.

And, Nigeria's Agriculture Minister Akinwumi Adesina won an election to be the new president of the African Development Bank.

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That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.