The Lead

The Cat, the Hat and the Woolies shopping bags of money

The Cat, the man with the iconic hat, and black Woolworths shopping bags filled with hard cash. Alleged attempted murderer and tender don Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala claims he showered former police minister Bheki Cele with R500 000 to try and get police investigators off his back. Senior parliamentary correspondent Jan…

27 Nov 2025 25 min

Indian fake news farm fuels Sassa lies. PLUS, probing ‘cheap flights’

How did an obscure northern Indian digital agency turn into a global fake news factory spouting all sorts of Sassa nonsense in SA? It’s a burning question that we discuss with our Disinformation Desk editor Andrew Thompson. Because even after being exposed for how it peddles completely made-up stories about…

26 Nov 2025 36 min

Power surge, Carol Paton on Mzansi’s new electricity revolution

If, like me, you’ve seen these headlines of new independent power producers emerging to feed into the national grid ... and you’re wondering, when will we finally wean ourselves off a century-old Eskom monopoly and realise cheaper power prices? Then stick around for my conversation with specialist journalist Carol Paton in…

25 Nov 2025 30 min

Ubuntu diplomacy lands at Jozi G20 as US stays away

The first G20 summit on African soil has flown by and, barring the United States’ view, it appears that President Cyril Ramaphosa has come in for near-universal applause for pulling off a global event of this magnitude. In what some are calling a diplomatic masterstroke, Pretoria pushed for the participating powers…

24 Nov 2025 30 min

SA’s high stakes G20 and whiplash from Washington

We start this edition of The Lead tonight with the breaking news from President Cyril Ramaphosa that Washington has done a u-turn and is now showing a willingness to participate in the G20 Summit in some form or another. Please note the rest of the show tonight was recorded earlier…

20 Nov 2025 22 min

Unravelling Brown Mogotsi’s conspiracies with Karyn Maughan

We begin this special edition of The Lead with the very latest charge from Madlanga Commission evidence leader, Matthew Chaskalson, that notorious North West businessman Brown Mogotsi lied under oath. Mogotsi’s claims read like a Cold War-era spy novel, but they appear to lack the evidence the commission so sorely…

19 Nov 2025 30 min

78-year-old District Six resident beats 2023 eviction order

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…

18 Nov 2025 18 min

How the DA axed its own minister of forestry, fisheries and the environment

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…

17 Nov 2025 21 min

Lawless lawmen? Inside the AmaPanyaza saga, with Khaya Koko

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…

13 Nov 2025 28 min

Adriaan Basson calls out SA’s Trump collaborators

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,…

12 Nov 2025 31 min

The MKP’s puzzling Russia deployment. PLUS: How to spot AI slop

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…

11 Nov 2025 41 min

Cat clairvoyance? Matlala bagged clinic lease months before SAPS tender

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…

10 Nov 2025 26 min

Jozi leaders out of office ahead of G20. PLUS: DA, ANC, PA duel for WC

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…

6 Nov 2025 22 min

BEE makeover - Is Tau’s Transformation Fund glow-up enough?

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…

5 Nov 2025 23 min

All aboard? Not quite, as Gautrain stuck in search for new operator

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…

4 Nov 2025 26 min

SARS guns for company linked to Mashatile’s sons. PLUS: Murray murders case restarts

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…

3 Nov 2025 40 min

Rassie’s suprise year-end rookie. PLUS: Black Coffee’s R157m CT villa

The Sprinbok 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…

22 Oct 2025 26 min

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 2025 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 2025 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 2025 29 min