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 news correspondent and columnist, Phillip de Wet, to navigate this massive moment, marked both abroad and locally. In our trending topic, a Somerset West sting operation nabbed a brazen contractor attempting to bribe a City of Cape Town manager with a bag full of cash. Finally, the Cape has a long history of water scarcity and provision problems, with On This Day in SA History, our regular show segment. Comment below and send our host, broadcast journalist Graeme Raubenheimer, a voice note: 072 562 3179. To advertise: [email protected]. Full editions drop on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube Monday through Thursday at 19:00. The show is fully produced, presented and edited by Raubenheimer and quality-checked by News24's editors.

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, fill in the blanks for you in this edition.In our trending topic, the so-called Facebook Rapist, Thabo Bester, will stay put in a supermax prison in KwaZulu-Natal. Finally, the apartheid SABC unbanned The Beatles, as part of On This Day in SA History. Comment below and send our host, broadcast journalist Graeme Raubenheimer, a voice note: 072 562 3179. To advertise: [email protected]. Full editions drop on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube Monday through Thursday at 19:00. The show is fully produced, presented and edited by Raubenheimer and quality-checked by News24’s editors.

Oh, no, it wasn't a gift… That's the insistence from former Ekurhuleni city manager Imogen Mashazi, who in 2022 hopped on a R3.5-million, privately chartered jet for a shopping spree in central London. And who did she share the luxurious flight with? Investigative journalist Jeff Wicks explains why this matters in the next edition. In our trending topic, the Hawks circle three senior officials in the health ministry. Finally, Ladysmith Black Mambazo claimed SA’s first Grammy, with On This Day in SA History. Comment below and send our host, broadcast journalist Graeme Raubenheimer, a voice note: 072 562 3179. To advertise: [email protected]. Full editions drop on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube Monday through Thursday at 19:00. The show is fully produced, presented and edited by Raubenheimer and quality-checked by News24’s editors.

Are they two sides of a similar coin? Parliamentarians have spent the past few weeks grilling the rather cryptic backgrounds of both investigator Paul O'Sullivan and information peddler Brown Mogotsi. The pair, in their own peculiar ways, have found themselves so embroiled in, or alleged in proximity to, all sorts of shadowy dealings with top criminal justice authority figures that it's becoming nigh impossible to believe who's telling the truth. Just ask our senior parliamentary reporter, Jan Gerber, our guest, next. Later in the show, we recall the deadly 1862 Birkenhead ship collision, with On This Day in SA History. Comment below and send our host, broadcast journalist Graeme Raubenheimer, a voice note: 072 562 3179. To advertise: [email protected]. Full editions drop on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube Monday through Thursday at 19:00. The show is fully produced, presented and edited by Raubenheimer and quality-checked by Simon Sonnekus.

Don’t worry, folks, it appears 2026 is a good news Budget. In a nutshell, Treasury has spared us the pain of universal tax increases, while also introducing increases on tax-free thresholds for several investments. The economy, as many continue to celebrate, is turning the corner, so much so that the annual growth projection stands at 1.6%. Specialist journalist Carol Paton gives the finance minister and his team three thumbs up out of five. Then, in our trending topic, you can now apply for an e-Visa to travel to the UK, but that’s about the only change to this expensive process. Finally, Madiba cooled some KZN tensions in On This Day in SA History, heard later in the show. Comment below and send our host, broadcast journalist Graeme Raubenheimer, a voice note: 072 562 3179. To advertise: [email protected]. Full editions drop on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube Monday through Thursday at 19:00. The show is fully produced, presented and edited by Raubenheimer and quality-checked by Simon Sonnekus.

Coronationville, Westbury and Melville are among the Johannesburg suburbs still suffering from a perpetual water crisis. Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has promised residents that long-term solutions are on the way. But metro journalist Alex Patrick tells us that, in the meantime, many infuriated locals are struggling to survive. In our trending topic: a fire at Cape Town International Airport delays global flights. Finally, a journalist of colour was sentenced to prison time for conspiring to break the apartheid Immorality Act, with On This Day in SA History, which is among our regular segments before Rauby’s Pointless Braai Quiz. Comment below and send our host, broadcast journalist Graeme Raubenheimer, a voice note: 072 562 3179. To advertise: [email protected]. Full editions drop Monday through Thursday at 19:00 on Spotify, Apple and YouTube. The show is fully produced, presented and edited by Raubenheimer and quality-checked by Simon Sonnekus.

Multi-millions of our hard-earned taxes have gone towards a mass Metrorail train refurbishment project but allegations of bribery between the contractors and the Passenger Rail Agency (Prasa) dog this deal, all while the trains gather rust, and are yet to leave any station. We mind the gap with investigative journalist Sikonathi Mantshantsha, who faces legal threats for reporting on the matter. In other rail news, Prasa says the critical Kapteinsklip corridor in Cape Town is open again for Mitchells Plain Metrorail commuters. Finally, two well-known South Africans share their birthday, while progressive MP Helen Suzman made her mark, with On This Day in SA History, which is among our regular segments like Rauby's Pointless Braai Quiz. Comment below and send our host, broadcast journalist Graeme Raubenheimer, a voice note: 072 562 3179. To advertise: [email protected]. Full editions drop Monday through Thursday at 19:00 on Spotify, Apple and YouTube. The show is fully produced, presented and edited by Raubenheimer and quality-checked by Simon Sonnekus.

The opening of Parliament, albeit from Cape Town City Hall, is anything but a quiet affair. Let The Lead host, Graeme Raubenheimer, take you inside the spectacle that was the State of the Nation Address 2026. From politicians’ demands on the red carpet and a student protest to the president’s podium, Raubenheimer holds out his mic to gauge the moment. And, besides the perpetual water crisis, crime and corruption, Raubenheimer discovers across party political lines an undercurrent of concern over illegal immigration. This is The Lead, and this is the South African story. Comment below and send our host, broadcast journalist Graeme Raubenheimer, a voice note: 072 562 3179. To advertise: [email protected]. Full editions drop Monday through Thursday at 19:00 on Spotify, Apple and YouTube. The show is fully produced, presented and edited by Raubenheimer and quality-checked by Simon Sonnekus.

This is The Lead, and this is the South African story. Joining host Graeme Raubenheimer for a special roundtable discussion, asking whether or not President Cyril Ramaphosa has kept his 2025 State of the Nation Address promises, are News24 editor-in-chief Adriaan Basson, political analyst and media commentator Mpumelelo Mkhabela, and esteemed academic of the highest order, affiliated in various professor roles in UCT and Wits University, Richard Calland. Stay tuned to News24 for on-the-ball, expert coverage of the 2026 State of the Nation Address. We critique the president’s promises to help you better understand the direction in which our beautiful country is heading. Comment below and send our host, broadcast journalist Graeme Raubenheimer, a voice note: 072 562 3179. To advertise: [email protected]. Full editions drop Monday through Thursday at 19:00 on Spotify, Apple and YouTube. The show is fully produced, presented and edited by Raubenheimer and quality-checked by Simon Sonnekus.

KwaZulu-Natal has emerged as the epicentre of the current devastating outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) among cattle, with farmers, desperate for the new locally made vaccine, resorting to the worst to protect their livelihoods. We get a sense of the situation on farms with our roaming KZN reporter, Sakhiseni Nxumalo, who tells us farmers are shooting their infected livestock. Meanwhile, former DA leader Tony Leon offers John Steenhuisen’s eventual successor some strong pointers, and any guesses who his money is on? Finally, we tune in for our regular segments; On This Day in SA History and the ever-challenging Rauby’s Pointless Braai Quiz. Comment below and send our host, broadcast journalist Graeme Raubenheimer, a voice note: 072 562 3179. To advertise: [email protected]. Full editions drop Monday through Thursday at 19:00 on Spotify, Apple and YouTube. The show is fully produced, presented and edited by Raubenheimer and quality-checked by Simon Sonnekus.