The Lead

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...

Don’t worry, folks, it appears 2026 is a good news Budget. In a nutshell, Treasury has spared us the pain of universal tax increases, while also introducing increases on tax-free thresholds for several investments. The economy, as many continue to celebrate, is turning the corner, so much so that the annual growth projection stands at 1.6%. Specialist journalist Carol Paton gives the finance minis...

Coronationville, Westbury and Melville are among the Johannesburg suburbs still suffering from a perpetual water crisis. Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has promised residents that long-term solutions are on the way. But metro journalist Alex Patrick tells us that, in the meantime, many infuriated locals are struggling to survive. In our trending topic: a fire at Cape Town International Airport del...

Multi-millions of our hard-earned taxes have gone towards a mass Metrorail train refurbishment project but allegations of bribery between the contractors and the Passenger Rail Agency (Prasa) dog this deal, all while the trains gather rust, and are yet to leave any station. We mind the gap with investigative journalist Sikonathi Mantshantsha, who faces legal threats for reporting on the matter. In...

The opening of Parliament, albeit from Cape Town City Hall, is anything but a quiet affair. Let The Lead host, Graeme Raubenheimer, take you inside the spectacle that was the State of the Nation Address 2026. From politicians’ demands on the red carpet and a student protest to the president’s podium, Raubenheimer holds out his mic to gauge the moment. And, besides the perpetual water crisis, crime...

This is The Lead, and this is the South African story. Joining host Graeme Raubenheimer for a special roundtable discussion, asking whether or not President Cyril Ramaphosa has kept his 2025 State of the Nation Address promises, are News24 editor-in-chief Adriaan Basson, political analyst and media commentator Mpumelelo Mkhabela, and esteemed academic of the highest order, affiliated in various pr...

KwaZulu-Natal has emerged as the epicentre of the current devastating outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) among cattle, with farmers, desperate for the new locally made vaccine, resorting to the worst to protect their livelihoods. We get a sense of the situation on farms with our roaming KZN reporter, Sakhiseni Nxumalo, who tells us farmers are shooting their infected livestock. Meanwhile, fo...