The Lead

Poor Economic Empowerment - DA’s answer to BEE. PLUS: Slain auditor update

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…

21 Oct 18 min

Is this why Ekurhuleni auditor Mpho Mafole was assassinated?

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…

20 Oct 25 min

Mchunu defends decision to disband PKTT, with Jan Gerber

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…

16 Oct 29 min

Why is Riaan Manser going WILD with News24? PLUS: Bafana’s triumph

“The outdoors is screaming for you. Time to listen,” Who said that? Our very own Riaan Manser, of course, News24’s outdoors editor, a man of many firsts, including traversing the entirety of Africa on a bicycle. He joins us on The Lead alongside our Good News editor, Paul Herman, regaling us with…

15 Oct 1 hr 01 min

Zuma funder, diamond ‘conman’ Louis Liebenberg’s guitar, pool table under auction

He is accused of being one of South Africa’s best-known conmen. A larger-than-life diamond trader-turned-alleged-Ponzi scheme mastermind, the notorious Louis Liebenberg is currently languishing in a Pretoria remand prison cell. And from this week, the heavy, earth-moving construction gear Liebenberg’s mine operated out of Koingnaas in the Northern Cape will…

14 Oct 31 min

The real costs of the police’s PKTT. PLUS: Bafana’s last chance

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…

13 Oct 43 min

Mkhwanazi in Parly. Maumela, Sibiya raids. PLUS: Bafana FIFA preview

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…

9 Oct 49 min

More Jozi coalition chaos on the cards? PLUS: Mkhwanazi latest

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…

8 Oct 20 min

ANC considers changing tack against DA’s Zille in Jozi

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…

7 Oct 24 min

After nearly 50 years of SA TV, can SABC, DStv live on?

South Africa has been watching television for almost half a century. Yet with the SABC’s finances in the red, DStv haemorrhaging subscribers over its prices, while streamers stream in, we ask: what’s next for Mzansi’s traditional TV industry?  We change channels to TV trade journo Thinus Ferreira in this edition…

6 Oct 48 min

Meet the monster John Harris (with Jacques Pauw)

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…

2 Oct 50 min

Morgan Maumela’s North West hospital hustle, with Jeff Wicks

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…

1 Oct 25 min

Mogotsi, Matlala and the ‘Big Five’ criminal cartel

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…

30 Sep 42 min

Is SA the next Mexico or Brazil when it comes to contract killings? 

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…

29 Sep 33 min

Police chief Masemola claims Mchunu, Sibiya shielded criminals

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…

23 Sep 26 min

Masemola reveals deputy Sibiya probed for alleged criminal syndicate links

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…

22 Sep 27 min

Mkhwanazi tells Madlanga about Mogotsi’s ‘unfettered’ SAPS access

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…

19 Sep 28 min

Mkhwanazi guns for NCC MP Fadiel Adams over ‘reckless’ handling of classified info

It’s day two of the Madlanga Commission and KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner, Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, has begun implicating more public figures for their alleged role in politically interfering in the country’s criminal justice system. Mkhwanazi alleges that National Coloured Congress (NCC) MP Fadiel Adams has been “reckless” in his alleged handling…

18 Sep 29 min

Foundation laid on Day 1 of the Madlanga Commission

For the first time ever, News24’s The Lead has gone live from the source of the story. The News24 team has set up camp at the Brigitte Mabandla Justice College in central Pretoria for all the main talking points from Day 1 of the Madlanga Commission. Host, Graeme Raubenheimer has…

17 Sep 24 min

DA envy: Unpacking Ramaphosa’s startling admission with Bongekile Macupe

In a stunning admission rarely seen from any politician in South Africa today, ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa conceded that DA municipalities, such as Cape Town, are outperforming those governed by the ANC. Ramaphosa told thousands of the ANC ward councillors attending roll call at FNB Stadium in Soweto this week…

16 Sep 44 min