x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

The Lead

Seasoned broadcast journalist Graeme Raubenheimer brings you The Lead, News24’s definitive podcast for in-depth reporting. Join us every Monday to Thursday at 19:00 SAST for candid conversations with our top journalists, and discover what they saw, heard, and uncovered in their relentless pursuit of the big story. Episodes drop on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube like clockwork. WhatsApp: 072 562 3179 or mail: thelead@24.com. This is The Lead, and this is the South African story.

news

All Episodes

36:01

Adriaan Basson names SA’s dirtiest politician

The Lead ·

2025/08/19

It’s a critical position in the now crumbling City of Johannesburg: a mayoral committee member for group corporate and shared services. It may sound a bit vague. But in this seat, you’re responsible for finance management, the city’s IT infrastructure, and supply chain processes. And it’s now occupied by one, Mr Sithembiso Zungu. He’s an ANC politician who has anything but quietly climbed the political ranks, as allegations of his running of a local construction cartel have followed him for years,

en

39:28

How a Polish website drives fake news in SA

The Lead ·

2025/08/18

A new report, put out by a research centre at Stellenbosch University, has now exposed a Poland-based news group called Visegrád24 for amplifying the views of alt-right commentators and their false narratives and mistruths about what’s happening in South Africa today. The report, authored by the university’s Centre for Information Integrity in Africa, has also drawn links between Visegrád24 and Polish government funding, while allegedly enjoying US tax-exempt status. The man at the centre of its

en

24:34

What to do with a rogue general? With Pieter du Toit

The Lead ·

2025/08/14

It seems like anyone can become South Africa’s foreign policy spokesperson these days. Just ask the chief of our defence force. South African National Defence Force chief General Rudzani Maphwanya jetted off to Tehran this week to meet with his Iranian counterpart and, quite astonishingly, spoke like the country’s foreign minister. And now our actual international relations minister, Ronald Lamola, back home, is scrambling to clean up after the general’s mess. Maphwanya’s timing couldn’t have been

en

29:54

Billions for blue lights, SA’s VIP protection splurge...

The Lead ·

2025/08/13

R1.47bn. This is how much the government has spent on protecting its VIPs from the 2020/21 financial year to date. And it’s not even the full picture of the cost. It’s especially mind-boggling, given that around R2.3bn has been set aside just this year alone to keep VIPs safe. To make sense of the numbers for The Lead, we’re joined in our Cape Town studio by our senior parliamentary journalist, Jan Gerber. Later in the show, the DA is finalising its replacement for the deputy trade minister in the

en

38:15

Coalition crumbles and cloak and dagger dealings in...

The Lead ·

2025/08/12

The game of thrones, with its political musical chairs for coalition maneuvering now even has smaller parties pitted amongst each other in the government of local unity in the City of Johannesburg where local service delivery has suffered and urban decay has set in, in more recent years. Central to the latest bout of inter-political unhappiness is a long-winded investigation into an alleged device used to spy on councillors. Our metro reporter on the story Alex Patrick is joining us in this edition

en

34:54

Exposing the pension agency’s near R1bn ghost...

The Lead ·

2025/08/11

Another day, another allegedly dodgy case involving a lesser-known state agency. This time, News24’s investigations team has uncovered evidence that the Government Pensions Administration Agency (GPAA) has issued millions to a company to facilitate its new headquarters in the capital, Pretoria. Yet contractor Shula Developers has not secured the lease to step foot in the building. Are we being duped as taxpayers yet again? Our senior investigative journalist, Sikonathi Mantshantsha, believes this is

en

30:11

Inside Netshitenzhe’s speech on ‘white supremacy’ and...

The Lead ·

2025/08/07

He’s a mostly quiet but key former policy mind for the ANC. However, Joel Netshitenzhe is now picking up where former US ambassador Ebrahim Rasool left off. Now with the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection, or Mistra for short – the same think-tank that facilitated a webinar at which Rasool uttered controversial comments about US President Donald Trump, Netshitenzhe echoed much of Rasool’s sentiment at a Standard Bank-sponsored event just this week. Our business journalist, Garth

en

39:49

Tony Leon on the state of the GNU, the DA, and brown...

The Lead ·

2025/08/06

The government of national unity (GNU) is MIA. And it’s not unified in the nation’s interests - it’s every man or woman for themselves. This is the opinion of one former DA leader-turned-ambassador, Tony Leon, who argues that SA’s current crop of leaders is failing the perfect storm test as we barrel toward Trump’s tariffs sans a senior diplomat in Washington. And what does he think about the Independent Development Trust bribe scandal? And the DA’s internal leadership battles for key posts? Find

en

38:18

No deal (yet) - what does Trump’s 30% tariffs mean...

The Lead ·

2025/08/05

We’re edging ever closer to becoming one of the few countries in the world to bear the full brunt of the US Trump administration’s 30% tariff slap. Can a last-minute phone call from President Cyril Ramaphosa curry favour and land a new US/SA trade deal? Business journalist William Brederode and The Lead host Graeme Raubenheimer are holding their breaths. For now, the pair discuss how the tariffs impact you, whether SA will trade with China more, and expectations for GDP and job losses. Later in the

en

24:06

Shades of Babita - another auditor, another hit and...

The Lead ·

2025/08/04

It may mean “place of peace”. But the City of Ekurhuleni has been on edge this year following the murder of its chief auditor, Mpho Mafole. The soon-to-be married financial investigator was shot and killed not far from his Kempton Park home in late June. Mafole, a former staffer in the Auditor-General’s office, was only three months on the job in Ekurhuleni. And he is most certainly not the first municipal auditor to be targeted for combing through the metro’s books, but for what

en

34:59

Criminal comrades? Pieter du Toit on THAT party...

The Lead ·

2025/07/31

“All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others”.If you haven’t read Animal Farm, that’s one of author George Orwell’s most famous quotes and it has never rung truer in the South African context than today, 31 July 2025.As we wait for the Madlanga Inquiry’s first public hearings into alleged police criminal capture, the man at the centre of KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s allegations, Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala, just cannot stay out of the headlines. This time, it’s

en

32:47

Oxygen thieves to blame in dodgy R800m tender? With...

The Lead ·

2025/07/30

An independent investigation into a massive government-sanctioned tender to provide 60 of our country’s hospitals with critical medical-grade oxygen has exposed many serious red flags throughout the procurement process. The DA’s Public Works and Infrastructure Minister in the government of national unity (GNU), Dean Macpherson, launched an investigation into alleged corruption within the state agency, the Independent Development Trust (IDT), late last year. The first findings from the

en

38:23

Mashatile’s millionaire mansions – but who pays for...

The Lead ·

2025/07/29

It must be super lekker to be the deputy president. During the week, you can live it up in your Waterfall mansion in Midrand. And on the weekends, you can cruise down to Slaapstad to lounge by the pool in your Constantia palace. Both these properties have now been formally and publicly declared by Deputy President Paul Mashatile to Parliament, vindicating a long-standing media investigation led by News24. It’s the good life, good life, good life… Joining us in this edition of The Lead to colour in

en

41:33

Is northern KZN becoming SA’s new coal belt? With...

The Lead ·

2025/07/28

The people of Mbabane, a small rural town deep in northern KwaZulu-Natal, have had enough of coal mining in the area. Cracked walls, incessant soot and noise and poor service delivery have come to characterise the small town. The arrival of a local coal mine has brought mixed fortunes for its people and now the town’s reality has sounded an alarm for the future of the entire Amajuba district. Here, the mineral resources ministry has fielded some 60 mining rights applications in recent years. In this

en

35:32

Five months later and we finally have a Budget! With...

The Lead ·

2025/07/24

It’s felt like a never-ending story. But after five gruelling months for the government of national unity (GNU), President Cyril Ramaphosa’s coalition has finally passed a Budget - a critical oil for his administration’s engine to keep running. At the same time, National Treasury’s brought three new measures to ensure we don’t take this long for next year’s Budget process. Specialist journalist, Carol Paton, and the Lead host, Graeme Raubenheimer, together break down and chronologically track the

en

33:57

Are INTEC, Damelin failing their students and staff?...

The Lead ·

2025/07/23

Is Educor setting itself up for deregistration by the government once again? Representing a host of private education institutions, including Damelin College, Educor has in recent years been drowning in a pile of complaints from staff and students about its poor teaching and administrative practices. Well, another of its institutions, INTEC, has now come in for sharp criticism from staff and students, past and present, complaining about a severe lack of academic support. We mark Educor’s test paper

en

28:22

SAPS ‘capture’ web of intrigue widens with ‘Death...

The Lead ·

2025/07/22

First came the “Cat’s” arrest. And then startling claims of SA Police Service “capture” by underworld figures. But the story certainly doesn’t end there. Sandton figurehead, Katiso “KT” Molefe, is now in police custody, too. It’s in connection with the 2022 hit on lounge club owner, DJ Sumbody, whose real name is Oupa John Sefoka, as well as his two bodyguards. Both Molefe and tender don, Vusimusi ‘Cat’ Matlala, are understood to be central figures in the allegations made by KwaZulu-Natal police

en

29:11

Jozi’s construction cartel with alleged links to...

The Lead ·

2025/07/21

A top councillor, wearing the ANC colours in the City of Johannesburg, stands accused of meddling in and stalling key public infrastructure developments in Gauteng, extorting payments before work can even start. Sithembiso Zungu, though, has denied the claims, threatening our man on the beat, News24 journalist, Tankiso Makhetha, who joins us in this edition of The Lead. Zungu’s currently the ANC’s Chief Whip in council but it’s his former position of chairperson of the Ward 122 Business Forum, based

en

33:39

Who’s coup is it anyway? With Amanda Khoza

The Lead ·

2025/07/17

As the Ramaphosa administration grapples with a warring police force, a hollowed out South African Air Force and a scuppered Navy, how real or imminent is the threat of a coup d‘état in South Africa in 2025? It’s a difficult question to answer given Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni’s latest remarks following the release of the National Security Strategy report for the years 2019 to 2024 in review. The report reveals security, geopolitical, and environmental factors that may well

en

18:58

Latest twist in unfolding police war, with Tankiso...

The Lead ·

2025/07/16

If claims are anything to go by right now, the top brass of the South African Police Service (SAPS) appears to be at severe odds following bombshell claims that shady figures have captured the police. Like Police Minister Senzo Mchunu, deputy national police commissioner Shadrack Sibiya has also been forced to take a leave of absence. He claims that KwaZulu-Natal’s provincial police commissioner, Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, is conducting his own parallel probe, requesting details of certain case dockets

en

129 results

Similar Podcasts

Expres Ráno

Expres FM

PBS News Hour - Full Show

PBS NewsHour

CD Voice

China Daily

Israel Today: Ongoing War Report

Noa Levi

Jeffrey Epstein: The Coverup Chronicles

Bobby Capucci