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
220 – 240

Episode 52 - Part 4: The Van Breda Family Murders

In this final part of episode 52, we reveal the blood evidence that spoke on behalf of the victims and consider what may have really happened in the Van Breda home that night. (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Enter the King Online Giveaway: https://king-online.co.za/tcsa-competition) (Support the show on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/truecrimesa) (Support…
30 May 2021 1 hr 44 min

Episode 52 - Part 3 The Van Breda Family Murders

In part 3 of our series on the Van Breda family murders, we get into the physical evidence and shocking testimony of a threat against the Van Breda's in the weeks before the murders. (Enter the King Online Giveaway: https://king-online.co.za/tcsa-competition) (Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/truecrimesa) (Support the show on…
22 May 2021 1 hr 10 min

Episode 52 Part 2: The Van Breda Family Murders

In part 1 of the Van Breda Family murders, three family members were killed murderer. In this episode, Marliby an axe-wielding van Breda clings to life, and we discuss the probability of the murders having been committed by intruders (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support the show on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/truecrimesa) (Support…
14 May 2021 1 hr 11 min

Episode 52 Part 2: The Van Breda Family Murders

In part 1 of the Van Breda Family murders, three family members were killed by an axe-wielding murderer. In this episode, Marli van Breda clings to life, and we discuss the probability of the murders having been committed by intruders (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support the show on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/truecrimesa)…
14 May 2021 1 hr 11 min

Episode 52 - Part 1: The Van Breda Family Murder

On the 27th of January 2015, emergency services surrounded a home in the upmarket De Zalze estate in Stellenbosch. Inside they would find a family slaughtered with one young girl clinging to life and another family member walking around unharmed. In Part 1 of this episode, we explore the background…
7 May 2021 56 min

Interview with Gerard Labuschagne: Author of The Profiler Diaries

In today's episode, I interview Gerard Labuschagne, former head of the Investigative Psychology Unit and author of The Profiler Diaries. (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 Patreon · Support the Show on PayPal
29 Apr 2021 1 hr 03 min

Spotlight Minisode 29

In today's minisode, we discuss three strange and disturbing cases that have darkened the headlines recently. (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) (Troubles Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0jRyAztVfR4npzKUeuI3Ah?si=GQNpS7DiQx6ZDrNAJ4Aupw) Support the Show on Patreon · Support the Show on PayPal · Instagram · Pinterest…
23 Apr 2021 21 min

Episode 51 - Officer Down: The Murder of Leslie Cilliers

In July 2003, 38-year-old Leslie Cilliers was gunned down in cold blood while serving his community. Now 18 years later, his daughter continues to fight for justice for her father, despite his killers having been convicted (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support our Sponsor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlMByNo3g8M) (Sign the Petition: https://www.change.org/p/petition-against-the-early-parole-of-cop-killer-xolani-kumalo-accomplices?utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=custom_url&recruited_by_id=5ca2e380-dc30-11e8-b9d7-0b438b981f7c) (Support the…
17 Apr 2021 1 hr 04 min

Episode 51 - Officer Down: The Murder of Leslie Cilliers

In July 2003, 38-year-old Leslie Cilliers was gunned down in cold blood while serving his community. Now 18 years later, his daughter continues to fight for justice for her father, despite his killers having been convicted (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support our Sponsor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlMByNo3g8M) (Sign the Petition: https://www.change.org/p/petition-against-the-early-parole-of-cop-killer-xolani-kumalo-accomplices?utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=custom_url&recruited_by_id=5ca2e380-dc30-11e8-b9d7-0b438b981f7c) (Support the…
16 Apr 2021 1 hr 04 min

Spotlight Minisode 28

In this Spotlight minisode, we discuss the case of a South African expat in Alaska who, in 2019, was arrested for the murder of two women. Is this the grand sum of Brian Smith's crimes or should we be considering him a serial murderer (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support the…
3 Apr 2021 25 min

Interview: Zibeth Hansen - Prison Psychologist

In this episode, I chat with Zibeth Hansen, a clinical psychologist working in the Department of Corrections. Zibeth shares her experiences working with South African offenders and also debunks some of the common myths around parole and sentencing. (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support the show on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/truecrimesa) (Support the…
27 Mar 2021 2 hr 03 min

Spotlight Minisode 27

In this week's spotlight minisode, we look at a decade-old case that has just recently been solved, a case of a criminal whose crimes caught up with I'm forensically, and the tragic death of a young couple from carbon monoxide poisoning (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support the show on Patreon…
12 Mar 2021 16 min

Spotlight Minisode 27

In this week's spotlight minisode, we look at a decade-old case that has just recently been solved, a case of a criminal whose crimes caught up with I'm forensically, and the tragic death of a young couple from carbon monoxide poisoning (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support the show on Patreon…
12 Mar 2021 16 min

Episode 50 - The Disappearance of Natasha Viljoen

In 2010, five days after giving birth, Natasha Viljoen vanished. 11 years later, her sister and daughter are still on a journey to understand where Natasha has gone and perhaps also, who she really was. (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support the show on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/truecrimesa) (Support the show on PayPal…
7 Mar 2021 1 hr 06 min

Ewa Nosal: The Case That Started It All (Minisode)

In 1994, 8-year-old Ewa Nosal was murdered. 27 years later her death continues to make an impact in the most unlikely of ways (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 Patreon · Support the Show on PayPal
26 Feb 2021 26 min

Episode 49 - The Stander Gang

In the 1980s a bank-robbing policeman shocked and enthralled the South African public with his criminal antics. Although the legend of Andre Stander and his gang lives on to this day, there are darker secrets around this man and his crimes that have been cast aside in favour of the…
19 Feb 2021 45 min

Spotlight Minisode 25

In today's minisode, we discuss a scourge of incidents seen recently in which the elderly are targeted for robbery and murder. (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 PayPal · Support the Show on Patreon
11 Feb 2021 15 min

Episode 48 - The Murder of Cisca Du Toit

On the 19th of September 1994, the quiet neighbourhood of Mount Pleasant in PE was rocked by the savage murder of a 13-year-old girl. The investigation into the murder of Cisca du Toit would reveal one of the most shocking cases of family murder South Africa has ever seen (Today's…
5 Feb 2021 47 min

Spotlight Minisode When Mothers Kill

In today's Spotlight minisode we delve into one of the most horrific crimes imaginable - the intentional killing of a child by its mother (Purchase the Audiobook: https://amzn.to/2YoCn91) (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) Purchase the Audiobook · Support the…
28 Jan 2021 26 min

Episode 47 - The Crimes of Stephanus Swart

In 1927, South Africa was introduced to a new type of crime - spree killing - when Stephanus Swart went on a rampage that would scar his community for decades (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…
22 Jan 2021 46 min
220 – 240