Best Of HuffPost On 25 October: 7 Stories You Shouldn't Miss

Malusi Gigaba delivers mid-term budget, Malema and Mapaila's alleged emails, and Public Protector's State of Capture report
South Africa's Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba addresses a news conference in Pretoria, South Africa April 4, 2017. REUTERS/James Oatway
South Africa's Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba addresses a news conference in Pretoria, South Africa April 4, 2017. REUTERS/James Oatway
James Oatway / Reuters

1. The decline of the SA Revenue Services is writ large across the 80- page Medium Term Budget Policy Statement released by Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba on Wednesday. Revenue collection has hit rock bottom, and while SARS has always managed to increase collection in excess of national growth, that pattern of what is called "tax buoyancy" has now been broken. Read more.

2. The continued mismanagement of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) like Eskom and SAA pose a real and definite danger to South Africa's finances. That much is clear from the budget review, National Treasury's eloquent and comprehensive overview of South Africa's finances and its economic outlook. SOEs -- and their impact on the national accounts and the country's economic prospects -- run like a golden thread through Treasury's diagnostic of government. Read more.

3. If you missed the medium-term budget policy statement on Wednesday, you weren't the only one. Members of Parliament, including President Jacob Zuma, also missed it -- by sleeping through most of Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba's maiden address. Thanks to advancements in technology, however, these naps were captured -- and tweeps had a field day with it. Read more.

4. Media personality Bonang Matheba stepped out looking like a million bucks at SA Fashion Week (SAFW) in Sandton on Tuesday night. Matheba attended the Style By SA Showcase in a red ensemble that left many people breathless. Read more.

5. The GQ Best Dressed Awards 2017 announced "sartorial consultant" and self-proclaimed dandy Menzi Mcunu as its overall winner this week -- a major feat for the 21-year-old tailor and founder of the Afrocentric Gentleman service. Read more.

6. Prominent activists in the LGBTQ+ community will be staging citywide boycotts of this year's Johannesburg Pride -- Africa's biggest queer gathering -- due to the event's location at an "elitist" venue, and choice of a "homophobic" headline performer. Read more.

7. A new book by up-and-coming Yellow Hat Publishers, called Tullula, is getting people talking about its bold mission: to change the lack of African stories available to African children, and upskill rural communities in the process. Read more.

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