TimesLIVE Podcasts True Crime South Africa

True Crime South Africa

True Crime South Africa is the first victim-focused true-crime podcast in the country.

Host, Nicole Engelbrecht, researches each case herself using media coverage, trial footage, social media sources and often by talking to some of the individuals involved. Using her skills as a creative writer and her passion for true crime, she crafts each script to ensure that listeners are given a deep dive into the case mechanics as well as an understanding of the victims as human beings.

The podcast covers both solved and unsolved South African true crime cases. The unsolved cases are often cold cases which can benefit from awareness being brought to them. This concept has been used in the US for many years and to great success. The listenership formed around true crime podcasts becomes a community that advocates for victims and resolution for families. South African victims now have their own voice too.

True Crime South Africa publishes weekly, alternating between full-length case episodes and shorter minisodes which discuss true crime cases that are currently in the media. The podcast launched on the 22nd of June 2019 and is making waves in the South African podcast community. On the True Crime South Africa social media pages, South African true crime fans finally have a place to call home where they can express their views on cases and discuss the details with like-minded people.

True Crime South Africa is published in conjunction with Arena Holdings, publishers of TimesLIVE, BusinessLIVE, and SowetanLIVE. 

Keywords: crime, true crime, murder, abduction, South Africa, police, law and order
Weekly English Explicit South Africa True Crime · News Narrated by Scott Peter Smith
337 Episodes
180 – 200

Episode 74 - The Murder of Valencia Behrens

On the 6th of January 2012, Valencia Behrens was 9 months pregnant when she went to visit a neighbour and never returned. Her baby would be taken to a clinic nearby - the sole survivor of a murderous mystery (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support the show on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/truecrimesa) (Support…
25 Feb 2022 41 min

Spotlight Minisode His Name Is Jerobiojin: The Ethics of True Crime

A 13-year-old boy is murdered in a small Western Cape town and South Africa loses its mind, but not for the reasons we'd expect. In this minisode we delve into the ethics of true crime and what we don't know that we don't know (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support the…
20 Feb 2022 20 min

Episode 73 - The Capital Hill Murders

In 1998 a prisoner was released from jail after serving just 3 years for a violent rape. By 1999, at least 7 people had lost their lives in Capital Hill, Pretoria (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support the show on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/truecrimesa) (Support the show on PayPal https://www.paypal.me/truecrimesa) Support the Show…
11 Feb 2022 31 min

Episode 72 - The Murder of Santa Pretorius

In 2001, the South African public was horrified by the news that two teenagers, dubbed Adam and Eve, had been arrested for the vicious murder of a woman. The entire truth of the matter, though, would have parents sleeping with one eye open (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support the show…
4 Feb 2022 35 min

Episode 71 - The Murder of Ralf Krebs

On the night of the 21st of October 1987, police received a panicked call from the neighbour of the Krebs family. A gun shot had gone off and a man was dead. What would emerge from this case would be a shocking tale of sex, abuse, and the power of…
28 Jan 2022 37 min

Episode 70 Serial Offender: Ananias Mathe

Between 1999 and 2016 the strange legend of a Houdini-like prisoner haunted South Africa. Was Ananias Mathe really the highly-skilled escape artist he was painted as, though, or was there far more to his ability to get out of jail? (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support the show on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/truecrimesa)…
21 Jan 2022 47 min

Episode 69 - The Serial Crimes of Richard Nyauza

In 2002 the bodies of five women were found in a quarry. Four years later when more started to be found, South Africa's IPU realized that their killer was back. (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support the show on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/truecrimesa) (Support the show on PayPal https://www.paypal.me/truecrimesa) Support the Show on…
14 Jan 2022 1 hr 06 min

Episode 68 - Finding Baby Micaela

When a couple delivered their first child on the 3rd of May 1994, they could have no idea that within hours a nightmare would begin that would last 22 months. A woman had stolen their baby and then seemingly disappeared into thin air. (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support the show…
7 Jan 2022 1 hr 25 min

Spotlight Minisode 2021 Wrap & Bloopers

As we bid farewell to 2021, I've put together a wrap of the year in true crime in SA as well as a blooper reel of my recording mishaps for the year (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support the show on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/truecrimesa) (Support the show on PayPal https://www.paypal.me/truecrimesa) Support the…
30 Dec 2021 39 min

Episode 67 - The Murder of Leslie Brockbanks Van Zyl

Leslie van Zyl booked into the Protea Hotel in George on the 28th of August 2000. She did not leave alive. In the years that followed her family would push for justice, but the "do not disturb" sign Leslie's killer hung on the hotel room door, seemed to apply to…
17 Dec 2021 1 hr 01 min

Episode 66 - The Limpopo Serial Killer

In 1991, Mukosi Freddy Mulaudzi was handed down two life sentences for murder. This should have been the end of Mulaudzi's murderous rampage, but it wasn't. For the residents of Limpopo, it was just the beginning of their nightmare (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support the show on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/truecrimesa) (Support…
10 Dec 2021 26 min

Episode 65 - The Serial Crimes of Charmaine Phillips & Pieter Grundlingh

In 1983, a Bonnie and Clyde-like scenario played out in South Africa that would end in the deaths of four innocent people and the death sentence of one of the perpetrators. The surviving perpetrator, a 19-year-old girl, remained the subject of many answered questions (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support the…
5 Dec 2021 47 min

Interview with Vanessa Lynch - DNA For Africa

In this episode I interview Vanessa Lynch, DNA Crusader, and representative for DNA for Africa. Vanessa's journey into DNA advocacy started with a devastating loss and her refusal to accept the status quo. She has since been instrumental in the passing of several vital pieces of DNA legislation in South…
25 Nov 2021 1 hr 05 min

Episode 64 - The Disappearance of Le-Jeandre De Bruyn

On the 7th of October 2014, 15-year-old Le-Jeandre De Bruyn disappeared without a trace after receiving a series of notes from an anonymous admirer. Two weeks later, another member of her household disappeared and the mystery would only deepen. (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support the show on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/truecrimesa) (Support…
19 Nov 2021 41 min

Episode 64 - The Disappearance of Le-Jeandre De Bruyn

On the 7th of October 2014, 15-year-old Le-Jeandre De Bruyn disappeared without a trace after receiving a series of notes from an anonymous admirer. Two weeks later, another member of her household disappeared and the mystery would only deepen. (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support the show on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/truecrimesa) (Support…
19 Nov 2021 41 min

Episode 63 - The Murder of Tandiwe Betty Ketani

In March 2012, a family tearing up carpets in their property make a strange discovery. A confession letter will lead a group of investigators down the multi-layered rabbit hole of a 13 year old murder. This episode is sponsored by CBS Justice. (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support the show on…
13 Nov 2021 1 hr 35 min

Episode 62 - The Flower Gang Murders

On the 24th of September 1996 in Nieuwoudtville a gang of five career criminals broke into a home on the farm, Heldersig. By the time they had left three people including a 4-year-old child were dead and a fourth man, barely clung to life (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support the…
5 Nov 2021 1 hr 17 min

Spotlight Minisode - Kidnapping for Ransom in SA

One week ago, four young brothers from Polokwane were kidnapped on their way to school. Their father, a wealthy businessman, awaits a ransom demand as it seems clear that the Moti family have been targeted by an organized crime ring. In this minisode, we discuss kidnapping for ransom in South…
28 Oct 2021 26 min

Episode 61 - The Serial Crimes of David Mmbengwa

Between 1996 and 1998 a serial predator was stalking Thohoyandou, Limpopo. He started out with murders framed as robberies, but soon moved on to his real target young lovers meeting up for secret trysts (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support the show on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/truecrimesa) (Support the show on PayPal https://www.paypal.me/truecrimesa)…
23 Oct 2021 40 min

Spotlight Minisode 37

Focus on femicide and female victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse is often significant, but when the victim is a man, it’s difficult to get the public and sometimes even the justice system to treat the crime with the same level of seriousness. In this week’s spotlight minisode, we…
15 Oct 2021 20 min
180 – 200