The Lead

He thought: What have I got to lose? Let me take on the man widely tipped to lead the DA next. In this edition, The Lead host Graeme Raubenheimer picks Sibusiso Dyonase's brain on his 15-year journey in the DA, who he looks up to, and why challenging Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis for the top spot is so critical, politically speaking. And then Raubenheimer gauges who's who and running...

“In time, we shall be in a position to bestow on South Africa the greatest possible gift – a more human face.”Who said that? The late great Steve Biko, of course. But you may be a little disheartened to hear that Biko and the Black Consciousness Movement may be, to some extent, less of a focus in future school history studies, if the Basic Education Ministry's proposed revision of the history curr...

He may not be your average police sergeant. Fannie Nkosi, who this Tuesday appeared before a Pretoria magistrate on several criminal charges, has been revealed to be a critical cog in how organised criminals communicated with the SAPS’ alleged bad apples. Then there's this intriguing tiff between EFF leader Julius Malema and deputy PA leader, Kenny Kunene, over claims Malema was too close to a...

When it comes to global corruption indicators, South Africa continues to languish in the red, according to NGO Corruption Watch, as local efforts to drive out rampant graft and improve our world ranking have only stagnated in more recent years. Enter lifestyle audits for public office bearers. They're supposed to reveal any inconsistencies between what a state official earns and their actual s...

If you're desperate for some good news this April, you've come to the correct place. From a 6-year-old author with three books to her name, to a fitness coach who gave a group of boys the opportunity to witness the Bafana Bafana match-up live in Cape Town. These are among a few of the inspiring stories editor Paul Herman and The Lead host Graeme Raubenheimer discuss in their yearly Good Ne...

This Tuesday, News24 fielded numerous reports of petrol stations across Mzansi shutting shop and turning away motorists desperate to fill up ahead of the staggering fuel price increases at midnight. Despite government slashing the fuel price levy this April, you and I will still be digging deep to pay an extra more than R3 per litre for petrol, and an eye-watering more than R7 per litre for diesel...

It's quite evident that the attempted murder- and tender fraud-accused Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala relied on several allegedly crooked cops to seal a tainted R360 million police health services tender. The question now, though, is: Who, from the Medicare24 stable of companies, backed the notorious figure in his bids? In other words, our multi-award-winning journalist and author, Jeff Wicks, asks: W...

Let it be known: Thursday, 26 March, marks exactly 100 days before the inaugural Nations Championship kicks off. With one successful alignment camp already behind them, 2026 will undoubtedly be one for the books for the Boks. The world champions square up against England, Scotland and Wales in the new tournament in July, not before a pre-season opener against the Barbarians in Gqeberha in June. Le...

The crucial work by our News24 Investigations team, in collaboration with journalist and author Jeff Wicks, over the past more than three years has finally seen the law catch up with the notorious Cat, Vusimusi Matlala, as well as a dozen police officers. They all allegedly colluded to push through a dodgy SAPS tender worth R360 million, all to line the pockets of Matlala and those closest to him....

Every now and then, South Africans are rocked by the depravity of a heinous act of crime. This week, we learnt of a 63-year-old woman who stands accused before the courts of murdering and dismembering her beloved 79-year-old sister, a resident of Cape Town's Bellville South suburb. Allow News24's journalist, Lisa-Lee Solomons, to relay the grim aspects of this story to you in this edition....

What is the public not getting to see after the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) was ordered to keep the findings of a damning forensic investigation under lock and key? Despite evidence of major alleged graft and bribery against him, Prasa's former head of rolling stock, Molefe Mosweu, is a free man after being allowed to resign before any internal disciplinary action was taken i...

On Day Two of News24’s On The Record jobs summit, we weigh the severe toll crime and corruption have taken on the state of South Africa, and hear from our new National Prosecuting Authority head, advocate Andy Mothibi, with News24’s investigations editor, Pieter du Toit. Later in the show, let Lead host Graeme Raubenheimer bring you the best bits from the panel debate on: where to for BBBEE? Hear...

We're a country of around 65 million people. Now, if you consider the expanded definition of unemployment in South Africa, which is nearly 43%, this equates to 12.4 million people of age who simply cannot find work right now. Of this figure, 3.7 million people in this country today are discouraged, meaning they simply do not want to work for a myriad of reasons. Enter: News24's On The Reco...

This Wednesday on The Lead on News24, we drill down, layer by layer, into two high-profile murder cases: the Murray murders and the killing of the Madlanga Commission's “Witness D”, Marius van der Merwe. We draw out three key suspects who have all enjoyed past ties to a central figure in the country's often highly-violent and extremely lucrative tobacco industry. Let expert investigative j...

From Pretoria to Parliament: we hear from two Fannies in the SAPS this Tuesday. One, a sergeant, Fannie Nkosi, who claims that national deputy top cop Shadrack Sibiya did accept gifts from alleged criminal Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala. And two, national top cop, Fannie Masemola, who insists to MPs that he doesn't target people, simply gets on with his job. Let journalists Karyn Maughan and Jan Gerber br...

It's meant to revolutionise the processing time it takes to crack critical criminal cases in Gauteng. But no, Mr Panyaza Lesufi, claiming that the long-delayed forensic pathology lab in Johannesburg is a “win” during your administration feels hollow, given that it was meant to open seven years ago. Just ask our News24 metro journo, Alex Patrick, who's been following this building's pro...

In 2011, he was but a DA spokesperson. Today, 15 years later, he's part of a centrist collective of opposition political parties preparing to shake up how our metros are governed. “Let's come together and work because what we need in SA are pragmatic policies,” says Build One South Africa (BOSA) member of Parliament (MP), Dr Mmusi Maimane, in a special lunchtime interview with The Lead’s b...

He claims he was caught up in the web of doing business with people he eventually became afraid of disobeying. But the Madlana Commission has put it to ANC-affiliated businessman Suliman Carrim that he may have committed money laundering by moving funds between himself, the notorious Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala, and supreme tender don Morgan Maumela. It has been a whirlwind week of testimony in Pretori...

With global oil prices skyrocketing, largely due to rising conflict in Southwest Asia, South African industry experts are concerned that we should be shoring up our local fuel supplies. And although the economy shows signs of a strong rebound, motorists face the prospect of petrol prices rising by more than R2 at the pumps this April. Still, there are some silver linings, reports our specialist wr...

We now know that City of Ekurhuleni financial auditor Mpho Mafole put his life on the line to raise red flags about the metro's R1.8 bn toilets tender. Deciphering every detail, News24 investigations journalist Sikonathi Mantshantsha and company have found proof that one of the contractors appointed is intimately and politically connected – although Lebohang Ximba, the wife of former Ekurhulen...

He’s the preferred candidate whose name is on the lips of many senior DA party members. Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis sits down to lunch with The Lead’s Graeme Raubenheimer this Thursday. From student politics, his allegiance to Helen Zille, the George v Steenhuisen saga, and ambitions for the Union Buildings, the man vying to be DA leader bares all. We include the usual show segments, such a...

The conflict situation in the Middle East is fluid. South Africans in Dubai and Bahrain tell of the terror of Iran’s retaliatory strikes after Israel and the US took out Iran’s supreme leader. The traveller’s airspace is chaotic. And Pretoria’s allegiance to Tehran will be tested further. We cross to global news correspondent and columnist, Phillip de Wet, to navigate this massive moment, marked b...

Senior health department officials are facing the music for allegedly siphoning off around R1 million from the Global Fund, which is meant to assist in fighting HIV, TB and malaria, all to pay a so-called independent investigator to try and discipline an internal corruption whistleblower. Let our investigative journalist, Azarrah Karrim, fill in the blanks for you in this edition. In our trending...

Oh, no, it wasn't a gift… That's the insistence from former Ekurhuleni city manager Imogen Mashazi, who in 2022 hopped on a R3.5-million, privately chartered jet for a shopping spree in central London. And who did she share the luxurious flight with? Investigative journalist Jeff Wicks explains why this matters in the next edition. In our trending topic, the Hawks circle three senior offic...

Are they two sides of a similar coin? Parliamentarians have spent the past few weeks grilling the rather cryptic backgrounds of both investigator Paul O'Sullivan and information peddler Brown Mogotsi. The pair, in their own peculiar ways, have found themselves so embroiled in, or alleged in proximity to, all sorts of shadowy dealings with top criminal justice authority figures that it's be...