Parliament to Vote on Controversial Land Expropriation Bill; Covid Cases Fall to 6.3k/day

LOCAL NEWS

• Parliament to vote on the constitutional amendment in favour of land expropriation without compensation today.
  • The process needs to be accepted by a two-thirds majority to take effect. Opposition parties have already said they will not support the motion, questioning whether the ANC will be able to gather enough support to execute its plans.
  • The main question will be whether the wording of the change can appease the EFF, which has been at loggerheads with the ANC
• Health Dept blocks access to vaccination data for the SA Medical Research Council, which may lead to delays in understanding how the Omicron variant could respond to vaccines.
  • This is due to confidentiality issues, and agreements on sharing data need to be ‘tightened’
• SA records 6,381 new cases of Covid-19 & 9 new deaths. HealthMin Phaahla says SA has enough hospital beds for the fourth wave, given lessons learned in the third wave
• Suspended ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule has gone to court to force his prosecutors to disclose which witnesses implicate him in alleged "asbestos heist" corruption – and to fight for a ruling that there is, in fact, no case against him.

Data:

• 0930GMT: 3Q GDP y/y exp at 3.8% vs 19.3% prior
• 0930GMT: 3Q GDP SA QoQ exp at -1.0% vs 1.2% prior