First Take SA

The National Energy Regulator says it will look at ways of giving incentives to Eskom to maintain its aging fleet of power plants and penalise the utility for poor performance. Nersa head of electricity Thembani Bukula says they want to incentivise them for good maintenance and penalise them for bad performance. The regulator earlier rejected Eskom's application for a ten percent tariff increase.

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa has invited Eskom to re-submit a new application for electricity tariff hikes. It earlier rejected the power utiliy's current application, with calls for more certainty and transparency. The regulator says Eskom didn't align its application with the requirements of the Multi-Year Price Determination which guides the levels of increases. Nersa chairperson Jacob Modise says the door is not closed to the power utility

The Gauteng Health Department has announced new alternate measures aimed at resolving disputes around medical negligence claims in the province. These include mediation as the first option before lawyers are brought in. A retired judge will be brought on board to precide over the matters. The department has been sued for millions by patients over negligence on the part of it's staff.

The ANC has again criticised a court decision, saying a ruling by the High Court in Pretoria regarding the al-Bashir saga was political. Judge Dunstan Mlambo outlined a number of reasons today why government was in contempt for letting Sudanese President Orma al-Bashir leave the country last week. He slipped out of South Africa, despite an interim court order prohibiting him to do so. Meanwhile Judge President Dustan Mlambo has requested the National Director of Public Prosecutions to consider initiating criminal charges over al-Bashir's controversial departure from South Africa.

Unions in the Gold sector have declared a dispute with the Chamber of Mines accusing them of providing misleading information in financial statements. The two parties were meeting in Boksburg on the East Rand to discuss wage increments.

The High Court in Pretoria has struck the application by Lawyers for Human Rights against Operation Fiela from the court roll. Judge Jan Hiemstra has ruled that LHR should carry the costs. The group was seeking a court order declaring government's Operation Fiela unlawful and unconstitutional. Fiela is a national operation by the police, the SANDF, the army and Home Affairs officials that often involves searching of premises. LHR lawyer Paul Kennedy argued that the operation was being conducted without search warrants. But the state argued successfully that the application wasn't urgent and that it should be struck off the court's roll.

The Tourism Business Council of South Africa has released the findings of its impact assessment study on South Africa' s new immigration regulations on the travel and tourism industry. The study, whose outcomes were released at a national press club briefing this afternoon,this is the second of two impact assessment studies the Council has conducted since the implementation of the new regulations.

The parties to the Gold-Sector wage talks tabled their offers this afternoon, they also agreed finally to Moe Allie as the chairman of the talks. The National Union of Mineworkers says it is up to the Chamber of Mines to give mineworkers a wage increase in line with the costly standard of living. Wage talks in the gold mining sector are expected to start today. The NUM is demanding up to 80 per cent increase for its lowest paid members and AMCU wants 12 thousand-500-rand. Employers have indicated that the poor performance of gold could have an effect on wage negotiations.

the Mpumalanga health department is also under fire for alleged sickening conditions at KwaMhlanga hospital. It's alleged patients admitted to the hospital are not fed on time and relatives visiting them are forced to bring water in bottles due to water shortages.

Two patients died yesterday while in the Intensive Care Unit in Letaba hospital near Tzaneen after the hospital's generator failed to kick-in during load shedding.The Minister of Health, Doctor Aaron Motsoaledi is visiting the hospital this afternoon.