June 30, 2015.
For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Sane Dhlamini.
Making headlines:

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa rejects a further 2015 tariff hike.

There are fears of more violence in Lesotho after the killing of a former army boss.

And, the financial crisis hits South Africa’s youth the hardest.

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (or Nersa) on Monday rejected Eskom’s application for a further 2015/16 tariff hike in addition the 12.69% already granted for the year.

Nersa cited major information gaps in the State-owned utility's submission as a key reason for the decision.

Eskom approached Nersa on April 30 with a ‘selective reopener’ of the third multiyear price determination (or MYPD3), seeking an additional 9.58% to cover surging diesel-related costs of 6.43% and to pay for the extension of short-term power purchase programme contracts with private generators.

The increase, had it been granted, would have bolstered Eskom’s revenue by over R16-billion during 2015/16 and by more than R52-billion for the remaining financial years of the MYPD3 period, which runs until March 31, 2018.

Nersa chairperson Jacob Modise indicated, however, that the regulator remained open to Eskom submitting either an application for adjustments allowed for in the MYPD methodology, using the regulatory clearing account instrument, or, alternatively, to a new application for the period April 1, 2016, to March 31, 2019, with indicative projections for April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2021.

Lesotho is likely to plunge into renewed political violence following the killing of its former army commander Maaparankoe Mahao by soldiers last week.

Mahao was allegedly shot dead by soldiers in his village home on the outskirts of Maseru.

The army commander, Tlali Kamoli, who mounted a brief coup against the then-president Tom Thabane last August, appeared to have launched a campaign to get rid of Thabane loyalists, reports said.

Thabane fired Kamoli as Lesotho Defence Force commander following the failed coup.

The high incidence of long-term unemployment among both young people and adults reflects the entrenched structural weaknesses in the South African labour market. This is due to the mismatch between skills and available jobs, says a report released by Statistics South Africa (or Stats SA).

Long-term unemployment among both the youth and adults was estimated to have been over 65% for most years since the recession, according to the report which focuses on the youth and the national and provincial labour market.

In the aftermath of the recession, a gap emerged between the youth and adult labour forces, mostly on account of the relatively large increases in employment levels among adults, according to the report.

Although the adult labour force is stronger than that of the youth, inactivity among young people is substantially higher than among adults as many prefer to continue their education in the hope of enhancing their labour market prospects at a later stage.

Also making headlines:

Advanced manufacturing is internationally regarded as critical to reversing the economically-stifling effects of increasing deindustrialisation and could prove to be the answer to South Africa’s stagnant growth rate.

Tunisia expects to lose about a quarter of its estimated annual tourism earnings, following last Friday's attack on a beach hotel that killed 39 people, mostly British holidaymakers.

And, the United Nations Security Council has threatened to blacklist anyone who hinders a peace deal in Mali reached by an alliance of Tuareg-led rebels and the government, and has authorised the deployment of 40 military ceasefire monitors.

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That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.