The Lead

Show us your slips! Cracks revealed in state lifestyle audits

When it comes to global corruption indicators, South Africa continues to languish in the red, according to NGO Corruption Watch, as local efforts to drive out rampant graft and improve our world ranking have only stagnated in more recent years. Enter lifestyle audits for public office bearers. They're supposed to…

2 Apr 22 min

April Feels Day stories to beat those fuel price blues

If you're desperate for some good news this April, you've come to the correct place. From a 6-year-old author with three books to her name, to a fitness coach who gave a group of boys the opportunity to witness the Bafana Bafana match-up live in Cape Town. These are among a…

1 Apr 23 min

This is no April fuels joke

This Tuesday, News24 fielded numerous reports of petrol stations across Mzansi shutting shop and turning away motorists desperate to fill up ahead of the staggering fuel price increases at midnight. Despite government slashing the fuel price levy this April, you and I will still be digging deep to pay an…

31 Mar 19 min

You’ve met the “Cat”, but who is Mike van Wyk?

It's quite evident that the attempted murder- and tender fraud-accused Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala relied on several allegedly crooked cops to seal a tainted R360 million police health services tender. The question now, though, is: Who, from the Medicare24 stable of companies, backed the notorious figure in his bids? In other words,…

30 Mar 18 min

100 days to kickoff, here’s your Boks ‘26 test guide

Let it be known: Thursday, 26 March, marks exactly 100 days before the inaugural Nations Championship kicks off. With one successful alignment camp already behind them, 2026 will undoubtedly be one for the books for the Boks. The world champions square up against England, Scotland and Wales in the new…

26 Mar 25 min

The ‘Cat’ and a dozen cops in cuffs for alleged graft. Plus: EC ANC mess

The crucial work by our News24 Investigations team, in collaboration with journalist and author Jeff Wicks, over the past more than three years has finally seen the law catch up with the notorious Cat, Vusimusi Matlala, as well as a dozen police officers. They all allegedly colluded to push through…

25 Mar 35 min

Inside the Bellville South house of horrors

Every now and then, South Africans are rocked by the depravity of a heinous act of crime. This week, we learnt of a 63-year-old woman who stands accused before the courts of murdering and dismembering her beloved 79-year-old sister, a resident of Cape Town's Bellville South suburb. Allow News24's journalist, Lisa-Lee…

24 Mar 20 min

Graft-spotting? Texts reveal ex-Prasa head’s alleged corruption

What is the public not getting to see after the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) was ordered to keep the findings of a damning forensic investigation under lock and key? Despite evidence of major alleged graft and bribery against him, Prasa's former head of rolling stock, Molefe Mosweu, is…

23 Mar 26 min

Hear from new NPA boss, and the summit births two jobs

On Day Two of News24’s On The Record jobs summit, we weigh the severe toll crime and corruption have taken on the state of South Africa, and hear from our new National Prosecuting Authority head, advocate Andy Mothibi, with News24’s investigations editor, Pieter du Toit. Later in the show, let…

20 Mar 34 min

On The Record: Hear job insights from Paton, Ramaphosa, Manuel, Kieswetter

We're a country of around 65 million people. Now, if you consider the expanded definition of unemployment in South Africa, which is nearly 43%, this equates to 12.4 million people of age who simply cannot find work right now. Of this figure, 3.7 million people in this country today are…

19 Mar 31 min

Key ‘hitmen’ in Murray, ‘Witness D’ murders and their tobacco industry links

This Wednesday on The Lead on News24, we drill down, layer by layer, into two high-profile murder cases: the Murray murders and the killing of the Madlanga Commission's “Witness D”, Marius van der Merwe. We draw out three key suspects who have all enjoyed past ties to a central figure…

18 Mar 27 min

Commission continued: Same name, different stories, one rampant police crisis

From Pretoria to Parliament: we hear from two Fannies in the SAPS this Tuesday. One, a sergeant, Fannie Nkosi, who claims that national deputy top cop Shadrack Sibiya did accept gifts from alleged criminal Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala. And two, national top cop, Fannie Masemola, who insists to MPs that he…

17 Mar 32 min

98 then 94, now 97% complete! Will Jozi’s forensic super lab finally open?

It's meant to revolutionise the processing time it takes to crack critical criminal cases in Gauteng. But no, Mr Panyaza Lesufi, claiming that the long-delayed forensic pathology lab in Johannesburg is a “win” during your administration feels hollow, given that it was meant to open seven years ago. Just ask…

16 Mar 20 min

Mmusi Maimane on the DA’s ‘toxic’ politics and why the N2 wall won’t work

In 2011, he was but a DA spokesperson. Today, 15 years later, he's part of a centrist collective of opposition political parties preparing to shake up how our metros are governed. “Let's come together and work because what we need in SA are pragmatic policies,” says Build One South Africa (BOSA)…

12 Mar 48 min

ANC-linked Carrim, the ‘Cat’ and Maumela do ‘business’, or is it money laundering?

He claims he was caught up in the web of doing business with people he eventually became afraid of disobeying. But the Madlana Commission has put it to ANC-affiliated businessman Suliman Carrim that he may have committed money laundering by moving funds between himself, the notorious Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala, and…

11 Mar 25 min

Should SA shore up its fuel reserves? Plus: Jooste’s mansion sold

With global oil prices skyrocketing, largely due to rising conflict in Southwest Asia, South African industry experts are concerned that we should be shoring up our local fuel supplies. And although the economy shows signs of a strong rebound, motorists face the prospect of petrol prices rising by more than…

10 Mar 19 min

The Ximba connection exposed in R1.8bn Ekurhuleni toilets tender

We now know that City of Ekurhuleni financial auditor Mpho Mafole put his life on the line to raise red flags about the metro's R1.8 bn toilets tender. Deciphering every detail, News24 investigations journalist Sikonathi Mantshantsha and company have found proof that one of the contractors appointed is intimately and…

9 Mar 24 min

Geordin Hill-Lewis on why he can be SA’s president and the ‘disgraceful’ Steenhuisen vs George spat

He’s the preferred candidate whose name is on the lips of many senior DA party members. Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis sits down to lunch with The Lead’s Graeme Raubenheimer this Thursday.From student politics, his allegiance to Helen Zille, the George v Steenhuisen saga, and ambitions for the Union Buildings,…

5 Mar 25 min

Your SA guide to understanding the US, Israel, Iran conflict

The conflict situation in the Middle East is fluid.South Africans in Dubai and Bahrain tell of the terror of Iran’s retaliatory strikes after Israel and the US took out Iran’s supreme leader. The traveller’s airspace is chaotic. And Pretoria’s allegiance to Tehran will be tested further. We cross to global…

4 Mar 22 min

Arrests as HIV funds wasted on probing health ministry whistleblower

Senior health department officials are facing the music for allegedly siphoning off around R1 million from the Global Fund, which is meant to assist in fighting HIV, TB and malaria, all to pay a so-called independent investigator to try and discipline an internal corruption whistleblower. Let our investigative journalist, Azarrah Karrim,…

3 Mar 22 min