April 2, 2015.
For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Natalie Greve.
Making headlines:

Minister Lynne Brown insists Eskom is on ‘solid ground’, as 827 MW in short-term purchases are renewed.

Sierra Leone will start laying off Ebola workers as the number of infected cases fall.

And, Sanral breaks its silence on the Cape’s toll road 'secret'.

State-owned power utility Eskom and Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown have confirmed that contracts under the so-called short-term power purchase programme (or STPPP) had been renewed ahead of the March 31 expiry date.

Eskom said the renewal followed the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s recent approval of the agreements.

In a statement, Brown said the STPPP contracts would supply “at least 827 MW to the system”, while it was understood that Nersa approved Eskom’s contracting of more than 1 350 MW during 2015/16.

Brown added that the renewal had been facilitated by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, with support from Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson. She said government regarded the contracts as “essential” amid the country’s tight electricity supply.

Sierra Leone's President Ernest Bai Koroma said authorities would soon start laying off staff recruited to fight Ebola as the numbers of cases decline. However, these workers would be employed elsewhere, where possible.

Sierra Leone and neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone are battling to stamp out the worst Ebola outbreak on record, which has killed over 10 000 people during the last year.

Addressing the country about the outbreak, Koroma said the infection rate was falling "week by week" and the number of treatment facilities and staff would be reduced, despite the need for continued vigilance.

The South African National Roads Agency (or Sanral) confirmed on Wednesday that toll tariffs for the proposed N1 and N2 Winelands toll roads in the Western Cape haven’t been set.

Sanral CEO Nazir Alli said these tariffs would only be set by the minister of transport once the competitive bidding process for the road was complete.

He was commenting on media reports after the Supreme Court of Appeal (or SCA) overturned an earlier judgment, which had allowed Sanral to keep some information pertaining to the N1 and N2 Winelands toll roads in the Western Cape confidential.

Alli wanted to make it clear that Sanral respected the judicial process and accepted the decision of the SCA. He emphasised that, although Sanral "will not litigate in the media", it wished to give the public some perspective on the matter.

Also making headlines:

Chad's army said its forces had killed hundreds of Boko Haram militants and lost nine of its own troops in clashes in northern Nigeria on Wednesday.

State-owned power utility Eskom says that full power from Medupi Unit 6 should be reached by the end of May and that it’s working to ensure that the completion of the remaining five units isn’t undermined by further technical or labour problems.

Long-time Congress of South African Trade Unions national spokesperson Patrick Craven has resigned following the expulsion of general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.

And, Nigeria's newly-elected President Muhammadu Buhari says his government will "spare no effort" to defeat Islamist militant group Boko Haram.

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That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.