For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Sane Dhlamini.

Making headlines: Nedlac to approach Constitutional Court next year over mandatory vaccination; South African economy shrinks by 1.5% in the third quarter; And, Malaria deaths rise in 2020 due to Covid-19 disruptions

Nedlac to approach Constitutional Court next year over mandatory vaccination

The National Economic Development and Labour Council will approach the Constitutional Court early next year about proposals to implement mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations.

During a keynote address at the twenty-sixth Nedlac Summi today, Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi said social partners agree with President Cyril Ramaphosa that mandatory vaccinations are necessary to ultimately do away with lockdown restrictions. 

Nxesi pointed out that it has been a difficult two years since the start of the pandemic, with gross domestic product having contracted by more than 7% in 2020 and the labour market having shed one-million jobs.

He said he was sure vaccine mandates would pass Constitutional scrutiny, which would pave the way for proper Covid-19 recovery.

South African economy shrinks by 1.5% in the third quarter

South Africa's gross domestic product contracted by 1.5% in the third quarter of the year on a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjudged basis. 

The largest falls were in trade, manufacturing and agriculture. 

The decline brings to an end a period of tentative growth following a record GDP plunge in September last year. The economy grew by 1% in the first quarter and a revised 1.1% in the second quarter of 2021.

On a year-on-year unadjusted basis, GDP grew by 2.9%.

Market watchers had widely predicted a fall in GDP following four successive quarters of growth.  

And, Malaria deaths rise in 2020 due to Covid-19 disruptions

The World Health Organization said healthcare disruptions linked to the coronavirus pandemic helped malaria kill 69 000 more people in 2020 than the previous year, but a worst-case scenario was averted.

In total over 627 000 people globally - most of them babies in the poorest parts of Africa - were killed by malaria last year compared with 558 000 in 2019.

The number eclipses the 224 000 people reported to have died from the coronavirus in Africa since the start of the pandemic.

The Organisation said about two thirds of the additional malaria deaths in 2020 were due to coronavirus restrictions disrupting prevention, diagnosis and treatment of malaria.

But efforts to maintain health services despite the challenges meant Sub-Saharan Africa did not see the doubling of malaria deaths in 2020 that the WHO had warned was a possibility.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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