The Lead

We chat about the Boks’ homeless superfan and a son’s cheeky Spur poster

From a good Samaritan who gave his extra Bok ticket to a homeless man, to a woman who reforged her legacy after a forced marriage at 14; good news editor Paul Herman is behind the mic to uplift and inspire in this edition of The Lead. Later in the show, a…

3 Jul 31 min

Charting the DA and ANC’s GNU collision course with Jan Gerber

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s surprise axing of DA deputy minister Andrew Whitfield has again set the cat among the government of national unity’s (GNU) pigeons. First, the DA issued the ANC an ultimatum: fire all ministers accused of corruption or forfeit its friendly budget vote. Since then, the DA has singled out two…

2 Jul 33 min

Are we seeing glimpses of Rassie’s grand plan for 2027?

The Springbok test season is in full swing with a convincing win over the Barbarians, a first on South African soil this past weekend. Now, the Boks’ sights are set on sinking Italy and Georgia in quick succession with the match-ups offering the front line-up, in particular, a considerable challenge. Building…

1 Jul 33 min

Can Starlink stake its claim in South Africa? With Carol Paton

Lesotho has granted Elon Musk’s satellite internet streaming service, Starlink, a decade-long licence to operate there. How did Lesotho get Starlink before South Africa? Specialist journalist Carol Paton explains in The Lead that the real reasons behind this are rather complex, as many local regulatory hurdles have to be cleared first. Communications…

30 Jun 25 min

101 dead in EC flooding after cold front, with another on the way

At least 101 people have died and thousands left homeless after flooding hit the Eastern Cape earlier this month. As survivors catch their breath and rebuild their livelihoods, another intense cold front is creeping closer to the province. With snow, showers and sweeping winds forecast, we speak to News24’s East…

26 Jun 39 min

The sinking SA Navy, with Sikonathi Mantshantsha

The South African Navy’s limited operational capability has been scuppered in recent years. Today, only five vessels can take to the seas along our expansive coastline, and they are restricted to patrolling around our harbours. If you’re wondering, “Who needs a navy anyway?”, then you’re sorely mistaken about the force’s…

25 Jun 36 min

Meet the rogue soldiers who allegedly killed top cop, kidnapped ISIS bosses

A dozen former and current South African National Defence Force (SANDF) members are, as we speak, in police custody in connection with the murder of a senior Hawks detective. In 2023, Lieutenant Colonel Ngwako Frans Mathipa was shot and killed near Hammanskraal Toll Plaza. Mathipa was tasked with investigating an…

24 Jun 32 min

Mashatile, his sister-in-law and the R180bn Lotto deal

Deputy President Paul Mashatile’s sister-in-law has reason to celebrate. It has been revealed that Khumo Bogatsu’s company, Bellamont Gaming, is among the key shareholders of Sizekhaya Holdings, the company that has won one of the country’s most lucrative government tenders: the latest licence to operate the lottery. It is quite the politically-connected…

23 Jun 24 min

Karyn Maughan demystifies the NPA’s extradition ruling headache

The way South Africa’s prosecutors go about extraditing the criminally accused from another country to face justice in a local court is currently under intense scrutiny. The crux of the matter is that in 2014, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) ruled in one particular case that only the country’s…

19 Jun 41 min

Iran, Israel conflict explained

Despite calls for a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, the Middle Eastern nations have, in recent days, exchanged a volley of missile strikes, adding pressure to a very volatile geopolitical situation. Will America enter the fray, and can South Africa play peacemaker? News24 international correspondent Phillip de Wet provides his…

18 Jun 28 min

Streets of sewage and a ray of light in Krugersdorp, with Sikonathi Mantshantsha

In 2024, News24’s Waste Land exposé uncovered the source of the Gauteng West Rand’s unbearable smell: the old Percy Stewart Wastewater Treatment Plant, which was illegally dumping untreated, heavily polluted water into the Blougatspruit, which feeds into the Hartbeespoort Dam downstream. This raw sewage, seeping into crucial water sources, farms and…

12 Jun 34 min

Wouter Basson vs HPCSA round two, with Tammy Petersen

The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) continues in 2025 to push for some form of historical accountability from “Dr Death” Wouter Basson’s involvement in the apartheid government’s secret chemical and biological warfare programme, “Project Coast”. But as News24’s Cape Town journalist Tammy Petersen reports in this edition of…

11 Jun 21 min

The bloody diamond war in Namaqualand with Jacques Pauw (special edition)

For decades, the forgotten, desolate sands of the coastal Namaqualand region of the Northern Cape have offered both illicit diggers and influential tycoons a chance at the big time. The promise of still-hidden diamonds beneath the hot soil has recently attracted all walks of life to a region whose people…

10 Jun 40 min

Meet the Jozi broker who disappeared with millions from friends, family and clients

A “smooth talker” who plied clients with fantastic food and drink, convincing many into handing over their precious millions, only to evade questions when it was time to cough up. This is how numerous clients described the elusive Johannesburg investment broker, Mark Kretzschmar, to News24.Tonight in The Lead, News24 Business journalist…

9 Jun 30 min

Has the NPA messed up again? Karyn Maughan on why Ace Magashule’s PA walked free

She’s a free woman. Moroadi Cholota, the former assistant to then-Free State Premier Ace Magashule, has won her special plea against the National Prosecuting Authority. The Free State High Court in Bloemfontein declared her extradition from the United States “unlawful” following a Supreme Court of Appeal ruling that only the justice…

5 Jun 34 min

Bye-bye Floyd - why MK speared Shivambu as SG, with Andisiwe Makinana

He took off his red beret to take up the spear. But the writing’s been on the wall for some time before the MK Party  booted Floyd Shivambu out of its secretary-general office on Tuesday and onto the benches in Parliament. “Floyd’s visit to [Shepherd Bushiri] in Malawi was an excuse…

4 Jun 29 min

Selling sweets to pay for matric ball and May’s best good news stories

From a viral Grade 12 pupil selling sweets every morning at a local taxi rank to attend his matric dance to a young Ikeys rugby star who got a shock call-up from Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus, by the end of Tuesday’s discussion with Good News editor Paul Herman in The…

3 Jun 25 min

Suspected ISIS SA leader appears in a Joburg court, with Tankiso Makhetha

The Hawks’ Crimes Against the State unit believe they’ve caught a suspected senior leader in the Islamic State terrorist network operating right out of Johannesburg’s inner city.  Abubakar Ali (39) appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday to apply for bail after he was arrested in Fordsburg on a…

2 Jun 18 min

News24 finds ‘hornet’s nest’ of fake news, with Andrew Thompson

Like most fake news these days, it all started with a friend’s WhatsApp message, sharing an article with the header: “Cape Town drivers to face congestion tax starting June 1st”. With a quick Google search, we found that the City of Cape Town had already rubbished this article as fake…

29 May 37 min

From Lesotho to Emfuleni, securing SA’s precious water sources

It’s a mammoth legacy project critical to keeping the taps flowing in Johannesburg, Pretoria, and the rest of Gauteng well into the future. However, the tax costs associated with ensuring that phase two of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project goes as planned have ballooned exponentially. Given the Water and Sanitation…

28 May 20 min