he Gauteng Health Department is concerned by the high number of unnatural deaths in the province. This as close to five-thousand people have been killed in the 2018/19 financial year through gunshots, being stabbed and through motor vehicle accidents. Assault cases have also resulted in the death of over a thousand people while nine-hundred and seventy committed suicide. Gauteng Health MEC, Dr Bandile Masuku says emergency services and hospitals are largely stretched over month-ends due to excessive drinking and reckless driving.

The Black First Land First movement has officially been de-registered as a political party. This after the Electoral Court yesterday rejected the BLF's application to appeal its de-registration. In June, the Independent Electoral Commission ruled in favour of the Freedom Front Plus to have the movement officially scrapped from the list of the country's political parties. The IEC says this was based on its constitution which states that it may not register a political party that excludes membership on the basis of race, colour or ethnicity.

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) says it welcomes Mboweni's announcement that State owned Enterprises will no longer get bailouts, but loans repayable with interest. Outa has also reacted to government's decision to retain the e-tolling system in its current form.

The South African Growth outlook has been revised down by government. It now expects the economy to grow at 0-point-5 percent this year compared to 1-point-5 percent that was predicted in February this year. Growth is projected to slowly pick up to 1-point-7 percent in 2022. Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has blamed weaker investment, lower business activity and declining global growth as some of the reasons behind the latest poor growth outlook.

The City of Johannesburg has admitted that they have yet to ascertain what information cyber attackers have gained access to when they hacked their ICT systems. The attack is understood to have breached the city's network and resulted in authorised access to its systems. Those claming responsibility have demanded that the City of Johannesburg pays four bitcoins valued at approximately 500-thousand rand by late afternoon yesterday. The City has however refused to be subjected to bribery

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni's 2019 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement will be tabled on tomorrow. The minister is expected to outline government's revenue and expenditure plans for the next two years. The minister is experiencing huge challenges which are mainly political in a slow growing economy. Revenue collection has been very low and economists predict a revenue shortfall as South African Revenue Service (SARS) struggles to achieve its tax collections targets. Treasury is also likely to revise down its economic growth forecast for the year from one-point- five percent to one percent

Newly elected DA parliamentary leader, John Steenhuisen says there still remains hope for change in South Africa through the Democratic Alliance. Steenuhisen was elected unopposed to replace former party leader, Mmusi Maimane after he resigned from the party and all its political positions. Steenhuisen, who had also stepped down as party chief chip following Maimane's resignation says his main priority is to stabilise the party and continue to hold government accountable.

The South African National Editors Forum - SANEF - has implored Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe to reveal the names of the journalists he says he paid to make a story about an alleged relationship with a young woman disappear. In a story carried by Sunday World newspaper YESTRDAY, Mantashe, when contacted by the paper to comment on allegations that he was involved in an affair with a young student in Johannesburg, he allegedly said he paid R70 000 for the story not to be published and he was not going to pay more money on the same story

Springboks have booked themselves a place in the finals of the 2019 Rugby World Cup. This follows a nail biting win against Wales yesterday. The narrow win by the green and gold sent shockwaves across the country as Bok supporters now look ahead to a clash with England at the weekend. President Cyril Ramaphosa will also be making his way to Japan where he will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of former statesmen Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki by lifting the Webb Ellis Cup.

A number of opposition leaders say they are not surprised at the dramatic developments within the Democratic Alliance. Wednesday (23/10) witnessed the resignations of party leader Mmusi Maimane and Federal Executive Chairperson Athol Trollip. Earlier this week, Herman Mashaba announced his resignation as Johannesburg Mayor and his official exit from the party. While some party leaders believe this will weaken the role of the country's opposition others see it as an opportunity to grow their electoral support