By Gabi Khumalo

Pretoria - Government's revised offer to striking doctors will first be considered by the South African Medical Association (Sama), which represents most public sector doctors, before being taking to its members.

The proposed new salary offer, being put forward by the Department of Health at the Public Service Bargaining Council, could see some doctors receiving a salary increment of up to 60 percent.

Health Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, made the announcement in Pretoria on Wednesday.

Government would like to implement the new packages, expected to cost around R1 billion, as of 1 July, if the offer is accepted by Sama.

Speaking to BuaNews on Thursday, negotiator for Sama, Phophi Ramathuba, said this decision had not been made by the association as its members have not yet received the official tabled offer.

Cape Town - The Presidency is expected to release two green papers to allow stakeholders an opportunity to give input on how the Planning Ministry and National Planning Commission should function.

Addressing the National Assembly during the Presidency's Budget Vote debate on Wednesday, Minister in the Presidency: National Planning, Trevor Manuel, said the processes would contribute towards refining the way in which the centre of government works.

The green papers will be presented to Parliament as a discussion document in the next month or so.

"The purpose of these green papers is to provide all stakeholders with a sense of government's thinking in this regard and provide them with an opportunity to input into the process of deciding how these functions will be performed," said the minister.

By Neo Semono

Johannesburg - Despite the bite of the economic recession, state owned utility, Transnet, has posted increased profit.

Releasing the results for the 2009 financial year on Wednesday, Acting Group Chief Executive, Chris Wells, said the company increased its profits by 3 percent to R13.2 billion compared to the previous year.

This was on the back of an 11.6 percent increase in revenue to R33.6 billion, Mr Wells said.

Transnet's key role is to assist in lowering the cost of doing business in South Africa as well as enabling economic growth through the provision of ports, rail and pipeline infrastructure.

The impact of the crisis was felt in its general freight business as well as containers where volumes decreased by 19 and 12 percent.

By Gabi Khumalo

Pretoria - While the Department of Health continues to monitor the H1N1 Influenza following the first confirmed case of the virus in South Africa, it is confident that they have successfully contained the virus.

"We have gone beyond the incubation period, which is seven days; if there was anyone infected, they should have been presented by now," Department spokesperson Fidel Hadebe told BuaNews on Wednesday.

Last week, the department confirmed a diagnosis of the first case of H1N1, identified as swine flu, in South Africa.

A 12-year-old boy from the United States, who had flown into South Africa on 14 June to visit his father, was admitted after presenting flu-like symptoms.

The boy has been reported to be almost completely recovered, the department said, adding that tests done on his father to check whether he had contacted the virus also came back negative.

By Gabi Khumalo

Pretoria - Government has proposed a new salary offer, which could see some doctors receiving a salary increment of up to 60 percent.

Health Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, made the announcement, which is the new offer being put to the Bargaining Council, at an "extraordinary" media briefing on Wednesday.

Government would like to implement the new packages, expected to cost around R1 billion, as of July 1, if the offer is accepted by the South African Medical Association (Sama), which represents most public sector doctors.

Minister Motsoaledi said the proposed offer will see unequal salary structures collapsed and as part of the new offer, interns will receive increases of between 31 percent and 53 percent.