The Lead

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...

From the Big Smoke to Slaapstad, there’s plenty to unpack politically this week. In Jozi, a temporary leadership vacuum ahead of the G20 Leaders’ Summit has coalition partners outraged. Meanwhile, in the Western Cape, the DA’s blue wave has swallowed up some senior ANC members left out in the cold. Stay tuned for The Lead’s discussions with News24 journos Alex Patrick and Siyamtanda Capa. Later, M...

Trade and Industry Minister Parks Tau’s dream of realising a massive voluntary fund to uplift small black businesses gets a reality check in this edition of The Lead. Specialist journalist Carol Paton tells us that Tau has revised this concept to include a key incentive for big business to help build the R100-billion chest. Later, in our trending topic, political silly season’s in full swing with...

Democratic South Africa has had such lofty dreams of bullet trains for our now largely decrepit rail network. The Gautrain, though, stands as somewhat of a contemporary rail success story. And now, the high-speed service between OR Tambo International Airport and the capital, Pretoria, is approaching its final station in finding a new operator to run it. News24 business journalist William Brederod...

Once a registered South African company trades past R1 million, it is legally required to pay value-added tax (VAT). Tell that to two of the deputy president’s sons whose company they are linked to, Modipadi Nokaneng, now owes the SA Revenue Service (SARS) a cool R3 million. This is revealed by our investigative journalist, Kyle Cowan, who is live with The Lead in this edition for not one, but two...

The Springbok boys in green and gold go head-to-head with their old foes, the Japanese Cherry Blossoms this 1 November. Coach Rassie Erasmus has already named his squad for next month’s tour, with young Stormers breakout star Zachary Porthen tipped to make his debut. Taking stock post-Rugby Championship for The Lead is our News24 sport editor, Lloyd Burnard. Later, in our trending topic, Nicole Mc...

On one hand, the ANC’s championing of broad-based black economic empowerment (BBBEE) has certainly succeeded in putting money into black people’s hands, a majority race excluded from enjoying the fruits of our country’s economy for centuries. But BBBEE’s critics, on the other hand, claim that the wealth this contentious policy has generated has often landed in the laps of a small elite group with...

Hunted. What was slain auditor Mpho Mafole and his team probing from within the City of Ekurhuleni when he was gunned down in Kempton Park this year? Find out by listening to this edition of The Lead with our senior investigative journalist, Sikonathi Mantshantsha. Later, in our trending topic, the PA unseats the ANC in a startling Soweto by-election. And finally, SA’s got a rich rail legacy with...

He’s been itching to tell his side of the story. Suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu has been emphatic to Parliamentarians this Thursday that there was no sinister ulterior motive in disbanding the Political Killings Task Team and that the unit was under review for a long time. Catch the very latest from Mchunu’s evidence before MPs, with our senior parliamentary correspondent, Jan Gerber, in t...

Much of the Madlanga Commission’s focus has been on detailing the events leading up to the disbandment of KwaZulu-Natal’s Political Killings Task Team (PKTT) nearly a year ago and the alleged reasons behind the decision. But if we pause and consider the text-based evidence tabled before the commission regarding the PKTT’s effectiveness, has it been all that impressive and worthwhile? Jean Redpath...

Die poppe is besig om te dans! Translated: the dolls are busy dancing! Which essentially means the chickens have come home to roost. While the SIU raids tender don Morgan Maumela’s Sandton mansion, and heavily armed officers swarm the Centurion home of suspended top cop Shadrack Sibiya, KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi wrapped up his evidence before Parliament’s ad-hoc committe...

The smaller, minority political parties are easily the kingmakers in the City of Johannesburg. Now, though, it has emerged that some of them have suddenly exited their shared WhatsApp group. So where does this leave the current configuration of the government of local unity in Jozi? Could it spell more coalition uncertainty for a metro screaming out for proper service delivery? We catch up with ou...

With the DA quick out of the gates to deploy one of its most senior members to run for Johannesburg’s mayoral chain, where does this leave the ANC? Does the party, wilting under its track record of corruption and poor service delivery rely on incumbent Dada Morero to take up the fight against Helen Zille in next year’s municipal polls? Or does it deploy a candidate no-one saw coming? With some ans...

Please note that our top story in The Lead today may upset you. Listeners’ discretion is advised. In short, you’re going to meet the monster John Harris, as narrated by the veteran investigative journalist who unearthed the harrowing story, Jacques Pauw. Harris, 73, a British-born music teacher for schoolchildren who had frequented many towns up and down the Western Cape, was earlier this year sen...

He’s been riding high in Lamborghinis, now eyed by investigators for asset seizure. Hangwani Morgan Maumela, the supreme tender don at the centre of the Tembisa Hospital tender scam, has since been pushing to get his foot in the door in the North West province too. But as investigative journalist Jeff Wicks reports, Maumela’s company couldn’t even bother to obtain a legitimate BBBEE certificate to...

It is already week three of the Madlanga Commission in Pretoria, and we have witnessed some damning allegations of the criminal capture of the country’s justice system. The rot in the police is so bad that the senior men and women in blue have a name for the criminal syndicate that has infiltrated its heart: “The Big Five”. And with a new inquiry evidence leader, advocate Matthew Chaskalson SC ent...

There are some signs that South Africa is heading down the Latin American route, following the recent assassinations of some key societal figures. From Babita Deokaran to Bouwer van Niekerk, global crime experts warn that the targeting of whistleblowers, prosecutors, activists, and even journalists weakens the very foundation of democracy. To take stock of the lessons one can learn from Mexico, fo...

On day five of the Madlanga Commission sitting in Pretoria: South Africa’s police chief, Fannie Masemola, has alleged that his now-suspended deputy, Shadrack Sibiya, the now-suspended police minister, Senzo Mchunu, the mysterious associate Brown Mogotsi and the incarcerated tender don, Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala all, in turn, schemed to get rid of the Political Killings Task Team and halt investigatio...

It’s been day four of the Madlanga Commission with our second witness on the stand: national police commissioner Fannie Masemola, who’s since insisted that the decision to disband the contentious Political Killings Task Team was “unlawful”. That’s not all: Masemola told the commission in Pretoria on Monday that he received a tip-off alleging that his deputy, Shadrack Sibiya, may be linked to Gaute...

Friday marks day three of the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry into allegations of criminal capture of the country’s criminal justice system. Evidence of WhatsApp conversations between KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi and an apparent associate and friend of now suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu has offered South Africans a glimpse inside the core of the cl...