The Lead

They scored big contracts with the Gauteng government. And, according to News24 investigations, the Public Protector’s about to clear the province’s Infrastructure Development Department of any alleged wrongdoing in awarding these tenders to companies linked to the sons of Deputy President Paul Mashatile. But journalist Kyle Cowan fears that this Chapter Nine institution has failed to consider the...

The Trump administration has now signed off on a new AGOA deal, allowing South Africa duty-free access to the US market. But do not celebrate too quickly, warns our seasoned business journo, Jan Cronje. Those pesky 30% Liberation Day tariffs remain, and our trade delegation’s yet to strike any new overriding deal. Finally…We remember Dr Neil Agett, with On This Day in SA History. Finally, can you...

In an about-turn, John Steenhuisen has decided to bow out as DA leader. It’s left the party’s upcoming elective congress all the more intriguing. We take stock of Steenhuisen’s tenure with News24 investigations editor Pieter du Toit, and assess Steenhuisen’s potential successors with journalist Velani Ludidi, in this special roundtable. Top political analyst Daniel Silke keeps the conversation flo...

They are one of the most critical witnesses yet…In the Madlanga Commission’s view, the implicated police officer known as Witness F was the “go-between” for Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala and General Shadrack Sibiya. The commission, as legal journalist Karyn Maughan reports, is leading Witness F’s sensitive WhatsApp messages that also reveal talk of some sort of arms deal with the apparent nephew of the l...

While the notorious Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala gunned for dodgy multimillion-rand payouts with the Tembisa Hospital extraction scandal, the police, and even tried to pilot a luxury private airport terminal, it has now emerged that his wife, Tsakane, landed a lucrative training tender from the City of Ekurhuleni almost overnight. None other than investigative journalist Jeff Wicks has the details in th...

Today, we ask: Are we being forced to buy inferior new cars? There’s no sugarcoating the latest crash test results for Hyundai SA’s Grand i10, which received zero stars for front-seat passengers. While the AA has raised the alarm on the meagre two-star safety rating for the locally made Toyota Corolla Cross. Join our roundtable with consumer journalist Wendy Knowler and motoring editor Janine van...

His son has links to a company that once raked in millions from a questionable Gauteng Health Department contract. Now, this business, tied to Deputy President Paul Mashatile’s lad, Thabiso, not only has a fat tax bill and changed its name to that of a major German city, but it’s no longer doing business with the South African state, either. Investigative journalist and author Kyle Cowan tells us...

The Madlanga Commission’s work deepens this week with KwaZulu-Natal Hawks boss, Lesetja Senona, coming clean on his and his son Thato’s proximity to The Cat – Vusimusi Matlala. Senona admits he sent the controversial tender don Bheki Cele’s contact details, and even the contentious Political Killings Task Team disbandment letter. But any insinuation, Senona claims, that there’s a corrupt business...

Say you’ve used only a quarter of an expensive data bundle, and its 30-day use period is about to expire? Well, the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) has quietly gazetted new rules that force major mobile companies to roll this unused data over to the following month so you don’t lose it. It’s just one of a handful of new cellphone regulations, discussed in detail, with business j...

The Lead on News24 has finally reached more than one million listens, and one million page views, in under a year. Thanks go to all of the excellent News24 editors, journalists and columnists who’ve lent a great deal of their time and energy to share their intricate knowledge of news. But most of all, thank you, Lead listeners, for tuning in. Host Graeme Raubenheimer crosses to chilly Davos, Switz...

Who, in our country’s signal of command, didn’t get the memo or ignore the president’s order to tell the Iranian navy to pull out of the recent BRICS war games off the False Bay coastline? The defence minister hopes a board of inquiry will provide answers soon, but News24’s specialist journalist, Carol Paton, says that ship hasn’t left the dock yet. Later, in our trending topic, the Reserve Bank G...

A real Day Zero scenario looms large for the people of Knysna. Bad seasonal rains, claims of a lack of water infrastructure maintenance – and the usual mix of poor politics – mean taps are on the verge of trickling to a halt. We catch up with News24 journalist, Velani Ludidi, who spent three days on the ground in the drought-stricken tourist town. Later, in our trending topic, a sole thief is targ...

There is a long list of burning questions piling up at the door of the Ekhuruleni mayor’s office these days. News24 investigations’ Sikonathi Mantshantasha is finally revealing that Mayor Nkosindiphile Xakhaza was at the scene of the 2023 nightclub murder of DJ Bongani Mfihlo, whom Xakhaza spent the night with. And the very same gunman implicated in the DJ’s murder also stands accused of snuffing...

When the “Cat” wasn’t sneaking his way into the heart of police operations, the controversial tender don was also trying to build a private international airport terminal with Nedbank’s financing help. Investigative journalist Jeff Wicks details yet another failed venture by Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala. Later, in our trending topic, a party member since 1995, ousted government of national unity ministe...

Is the so-called “prime lending rate” – the fancifully advertised rate that banks use as a reference or pegging point to sell bonds and loans to us – just a giant load of untested BS? Why is it 350 basis points more than our much-deserved low repo rate, and isn’t it high time the SA Reserve Bank reviewed this? The very latest word from News24 business journo, Garth Theunissen, is that the Competit...

Back to school, back to reality… With schools about to reopen, senior education journalist Prega Govender takes stock of the 2025 matric results. Think of it like a scale: on one end, a greater average pass rate, while on the other, fewer pupils are taking critical subjects like standard maths. And the concern is: when does this scale tip completely? Later, in our trending topic, car sales jump in...

Provincial coalition politics in KwaZulu-Natal are on shaky, uncertain ground, with the small kingmaker National Freedom Party trying to call the shots, threatening to pull out of the IFP, ANC, and DA government of provincial unity, leaving the MKP rubbing its hands. Our man in Durban, Soyiso Maliti, reports the latest developments. Later, in our trending topic, it’s been an especially tough summe...

While the SACP marched on the US Embassy in Pretoria on Thursday to denounce the Trump administration’s abduction of another sitting head of state, the political parties that make up the current government of national unity (GNU) failed to see eye-to-eye on how best to react to the US-Venezuela crisis. We check the GNU’s foreign policy pulse with our columnists, global correspondent Phillip de Wet...

A surprise appointment to be sure… Corruption buster Advocate Andy Mothibi has his work cut out for him as the new head of the National Prosecuting Authority from February 1. But does his bypassing of the interview process sour the start of his new position, and what about concerns over his age? Specialist legal journalist Karyn Maughan comes out of holiday hibernation to fill us in. Later, in our...

In our second edition of the new year so far… They’re by no means a new invention. But they appear to be as popular as ever, according to one major retailer. Many South Africans continue to spend millions on savings stamps every month, according to consumer journalist Maya Fisher-French. Later, in our trending topic, as Tweede Nuwe Jaar comes and goes, we sum up the Cape Town minstrel mess so far....

Welcome to 2026 Lead listeners… From municipal elections to the FIFA World Cup, it is going to be a banger of a year… and we’ll be with you telling our countries’ most critical stories, every step of the way. For our first edition of season two of The Lead; Bafana bows out of the Africa Cup of Nations after failing to capitalise on early attacks against the Cameroonians in the knockout stages. We’...

Touch wood, South Africa’s government of national unity has survived 2025. But the tested national coalition between two of the country’s most devout enemies, the ANC and the DA, has the war wounds to show for it. And senior parliamentary correspondent Jan Gerber has borne witness to most of these GNU trials and tribulations. He’s our final guest on The Lead this 2025. You can send our host, broad...

Sadly, assassinations will come to define the 2025 news agenda. From Ekhuruleni financial auditor Mpho Mafole to Brakpan crimefighter Marius van der Merwe, several South Africans have paid the ultimate price for doing the right thing. Our senior investigative journalist, Sikonathi Manthshantsha, is live on the line with us in this end-of-the-year edition of The Lead to try and make sense of all th...

Vusimusi “the Cat” Matlala has been a name tough to keep out of our top news headlines of 2025. From the Tembisa Hospital extraction scandal to a failed hit on his former lover, actress Tebogo Thobejane, all while brushing shoulders with former police commissioner and long-time minister Bheki Cele – the Cat’s nine lives may well and truly be finally up. And our guest on this end-of-year edition of...

Another high-profile commission of inquiry wasn’t on our news bingo cards for 2025.But we’re not surprised another one was established, either. Born out of two parts: one, News24 picking up slain whistleblower Babita Deokaran’s investigation into the Tembisa Hospital extraction scandal, and two, KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s bombshell press conference, the Madlanga Commiss...