The Lead

You may be wondering these holidays, around the braai, “hey, I can’t remember but…” what set off the US Trump Administration in 2025 to punish South Africa with tariffs, a White House press ambush, and a ghosting at the G20 in Johannesburg? Well, not one factor, person or organisation is to blame for the supreme souring of relations between Washington and Pretoria. Instead, a disinformation war wa...

When, eventually, we peer back at the annals of South African sport in 2025, cricket will come out tops. That’s the argument from our News24 Sport editor, Lloyd Burnard, who believes the Proteas’ fire is blazing bright for both the men’s and women’s sides. Burnard joined The Lead in our new Cape Town studios to reflect on the sporting year that was, not just on the oval, but out on the pitch and f...

The Western Cape gang crisis is at fever pitch. The latest stats show nearly 100 people were killed in gang violence every month for the past six months. Families are shattered, police detectives are strained to capacity, and trauma doctors are burnt out. We give the “War at Home” in Cape Town a face with journalist, Lisalee Solomons. Later, in our trending topic, with a win over Ghana under their...

Media personality turned businessman Warrick “DJ Warras” Stock tasked himself with restoring some order in Johannesburg’s maze of problematic, hijacked buildings. We look at why Stock, a former 5FM DJ and private security company boss, was shot and killed in broad daylight on a public holiday meant to celebrate our country’s reconciliation. Journalist Tankiso Makhetha helps us fill in the blanks i...

Have you clocked out for the year already? On the beach yet? Switched off? Well, constitutional law expert Pierre de Vos has, but not before giving us his last interview for the year. Touching on all his highs and lows for the judiciary in 2025, from one judge allegedly receiving church bribes – to IDAC’s Transnet corruption trial, De Vos weighs in. Later, in our trending topic, our politicians ha...

The ANC is introspecting. If its National General Council is anything to go by, the continent’s oldest liberation party appears to be serious about reversing its sliding scale of victory. But the yellow and green giant forged in the images of Luthuli, Sisulu and Mandela cannot rebuild without the full support of the country’s black middle class, which it helped forge. That’s the argument from News...

An end to vote-buying at elective conferences. And a stricter step-aside ruling for those accused of corruption. These are just some of the party policy changes the African National Congress (ANC) is mulling over at its current National General Council in Boksburg. As our political reporter, Soyiso Maliti debuts on The Lead, the ANC takes a hard look in the mirror. Later, the ANC’s Chief Albert Lu...

The DA won’t be led by John Steenhuisen forever, and this is President Cyril Ramaphosa’s final turn at the helm of Africa’s oldest liberation movement, the ANC. While most of us have our minds on the beach at this time of year, News24 editor-in-chief Adriaan Basson has some very informed thoughts on who may or may not lead these two awkward GNU bedfellows in the years to come. Later, in our trendi...

Nicknamed “vlam”, or flame in English, 41-year-old Brakpan crimefighter Marius van der Merwe was shot and killed last Friday at his home. It’s mere weeks after he, as Witness D at the Madlanga Commission, detailed an alleged 2022 murder cover-up involving deputy Ekurhuleni top metro cop, Julius Mkhwanazi. And it follows Van Der Merwe’s private security efforts to fight illegal mining on Gauteng’s...

Once upon a time, he was former president Jacob Zuma’s so-called super spy. Heading up a secretive sub-section of the State Security Agency, all in the name of only protecting number one: Umsholozi. But this week, the NPA’s no-holds-barred Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) unit arrested and charged Thulani Dlomo for alleged forgery, looting the agency of millions. And our investi...

A resignation from Parliament. Charges and counter charges filed. Denials and disappointment. And still, nothing right now can return 17 men to South Africa who were unknowingly deployed to the frontlines of the Russia/Ukraine war. We get the latest from the man who broke the MK Party and Russian military saga, Iavan Pijoos, in our latest edition of The Lead. Later, in our trending topic, the Boks...

Broken lamp posts, litter and a good ‘ol serving of corruption….It sounds like the standard recipe for any South African town these days, and Gqeberha’s been no exception under chaotic coalition rule. Political journalist Siyamtanda Capa is keeping a close eye on Nelson Mandela Bay these days as the DA stakes its claim for the ANC’s coveted mayoral chain. Later, we pay tribute to the first woman t...

Greetings from Boksburg on Gauteng’s East Rand, Lead listeners...Today, we get an update from senior investigative journalist Sikonathi Mantshantsha on the murder of City of Ekurhuleni financial auditor Mpho Mafole. And how, clear evidence suggests, Mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza has publicly tried to draw links between Mafole’s murder and other City matters… but not the lucrative R1.8 billion chemic...

The Cat, the man with the iconic hat, and black Woolworths shopping bags filled with hard cash. Alleged attempted murderer and tender don Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala claims he showered former police minister Bheki Cele with R500 000 to try and get police investigators off his back. Senior parliamentary correspondent Jan Gerber and I distil Matlala’s evidence before MPs, sitting in a Pretoria prison, wi...

How did an obscure northern Indian digital agency turn into a global fake news factory spouting all sorts of Sassa nonsense in SA? It’s a burning question that we discuss with our Disinformation Desk editor Andrew Thompson. Because even after being exposed for how it peddles completely made-up stories about SA last month, the Indian agency has doubled down, forcing our local authorities to act onc...

If, like me, you’ve seen these headlines of new independent power producers emerging to feed into the national grid ... and you’re wondering, when will we finally wean ourselves off a century-old Eskom monopoly and realise cheaper power prices? Then stick around for my conversation with specialist journalist Carol Paton in this edition of The Lead. Because the long and short of it is this: we’re a...

The first G20 summit on African soil has flown by and, barring the United States’ view, it appears that President Cyril Ramaphosa has come in for near-universal applause for pulling off a global event of this magnitude. In what some are calling a diplomatic masterstroke, Pretoria pushed for the participating powers to adopt the summit’s declaration early on Saturday, possibly to avoid any overture...

We start this edition of The Lead tonight with the breaking news from President Cyril Ramaphosa that Washington has done a u-turn and is now showing a willingness to participate in the G20 Summit in some form or another. Please note the rest of the show tonight was recorded earlier in the day. For the first time in Africa’s history, the G20 Summit is happening this weekend in Johannesburg, a city...

We begin this special edition of The Lead with the very latest charge from Madlanga Commission evidence leader, Matthew Chaskalson, that notorious North West businessman Brown Mogotsi lied under oath. Mogotsi’s claims read like a Cold War-era spy novel, but they appear to lack the evidence the commission so sorely needs to make concrete findings. The self-proclaimed Crime Intelligence contact agen...

Every now and then, a modern-day David and Goliath story comes along that warms our hearts. Today, this story is about 78-year-old Noor-Banu Allie, a long-time District Six resident who was forcibly removed from the area in the late 1960s. She very nearly suffered the same fate recently when her landlord dug their heels in, but a Western Cape High Court ruling has now allowed her to keep renting h...

First came Andrew Whitfield’s axing – and now the DA’s had to see the environment minister, Dion George, fired too. This time for failing to toe the Cabinet’s policy lines on COP30 and regulated rhino horn and ivory trading. Allegations, too, of bullying and sexual misconduct suggest that George was deeply unpleasant to work with. Catch our conversation with News24’s new climate correspondent, Eth...

They’re called the AmaPanyaza. Meaning: Panyaza’s boys. These are the more than 6 000 anti-crime wardens appointed as a task force in the name of the premier of Gauteng, Panyaza Lesufi, back in 2023. But Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka, just this October, found in a report that the establishment of the force was illegal and unconstitutional. She ordered the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RT...

Remember their names: Kallie Kriel, Rob Hersov, Elon Musk. These are just some of the collaborators News24 editor-in-chief Adriaan Basson argues played a part in backing US President Donald Trump’s lies about the Afrikaner experience in SA today. Basson, our guest on The Lead, believes Trump’s comments may come and go, but history will remember these collaborators. Later, in our trending topic, a...

We lead today’s show with a News24 exclusive on news that the MK Party flew some of its members to Russia to train as bodyguards only for them to be deployed, apparently unknowingly, to the frontlines of a war. It now appears that former president Jacob Zuma wants them moved to a safe space. And, later in the show, how did an obscure northern Indian digital agency turn into a global fake news fact...

Just when you thought the Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala saga couldn’t get any more intriguing, it does. Today, specialist investigative journalist Jeff Wicks can reveal the notorious tender don secured a pretty affordable deal to rent a state clinic on the grounds of the Pretoria West Police Training Academy, a full six months before he landed a controversial R360-million health services tender with the...