TimesLIVE Podcasts True Crime South Africa

True Crime South Africa

True Crime South Africa is the first victim-focused true-crime podcast in the country.

Host, Nicole Engelbrecht, researches each case herself using media coverage, trial footage, social media sources and often by talking to some of the individuals involved. Using her skills as a creative writer and her passion for true crime, she crafts each script to ensure that listeners are given a deep dive into the case mechanics as well as an understanding of the victims as human beings.

The podcast covers both solved and unsolved South African true crime cases. The unsolved cases are often cold cases which can benefit from awareness being brought to them. This concept has been used in the US for many years and to great success. The listenership formed around true crime podcasts becomes a community that advocates for victims and resolution for families. South African victims now have their own voice too.

True Crime South Africa publishes weekly, alternating between full-length case episodes and shorter minisodes which discuss true crime cases that are currently in the media. The podcast launched on the 22nd of June 2019 and is making waves in the South African podcast community. On the True Crime South Africa social media pages, South African true crime fans finally have a place to call home where they can express their views on cases and discuss the details with like-minded people.

True Crime South Africa is published in conjunction with Arena Holdings, publishers of TimesLIVE, BusinessLIVE, and SowetanLIVE. 

Keywords: crime, true crime, murder, abduction, South Africa, police, law and order
Weekly English Explicit South Africa True Crime · News Narrated by Scott Peter Smith
284 Episodes
60 – 80

Episode 120 The Serial Crimes of Fanwell Khumalo

Between 1997 and 2001 the most prolific serial child rapist South Africa has ever seen walked the streets of Johannesburg. By the time he was caught the charges against him exceeded 100 counts, but he had not been hiding in the shadows - he'd been in the limelight all along…
12 Jun 2023 40 min

Episode 118 Go Fly A Kite

Every now and then a South African court hears a financial crime case that is so bizarre and unbelievable that it goes down in the annals of history. In 1994, one such case popped up in the unlikely town of Oudtshoorn. (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support the show on Patreon…
26 May 2023 38 min

Introducing: Preview: Episode 1 Change in One Generation Podcast

This is a preview of the first episode of Change in One Generation Podcast The Change in One Generation podcast, hosted by Ruda Landman and Dr Frank Magwegwe, dives into the change stories of fascinating South Africans. Ever wondered how some of the most successful South Africans navigate the uncertainty…
24 May 2023 18 min

Episode 117 The Murder of Beatrice Harrowyn

When 47-year-old interior designer Beatrice Harrowyn disappeared in November 2001, the missing person report filed by her friend coincided with the discovery of a body on the side of the N14. It would be the job of police to stitch together all the threads and tie up a possible serial…
20 May 2023 59 min

Episode 116 The Rhodes Park Murders

In 2015, the peace of Rhodes Park in Kensington was shattered by the horrified screams of two women who told those who rushed to their aid that they'd been attacked and their husbands had been dumped in the water. Soon the SAPS was searching for 12 men responsible for the…
14 May 2023 59 min

Introducing: Change in One Generation podcast

The Change in One Generation podcast, hosted by Ruda Landman and Dr Frank Magwegwe, dives into the change stories of fascinating South Africans. Ever wondered how some of the most successful South Africans navigate the uncertainty of change in their lives to achieve their goals? The Change in One Generation…
11 May 2023 1 min

Bonus Episode: Interview with Ted Botha - Author of Daisy De Melker

In this special crossover episode, Nicole Engelbrecht interviews author Ted Botha about his new true crime book Daisy De Melker: Hiding Among Killers in the City of Gold. This is a crossover to the interview I conducted on Jonathan Ball Publishing's podcast Pagecast. Subscribe to Pagecast for more bookish content…
9 May 2023 46 min

Episode 115 The Murder of Nokuphila Kumalo

In the early hours of 14 April 2013, the badly beaten body of a young woman was discovered on the streets of Woodstock. On the other side of town, a wealthy artist pulled his Porsche into its garage, turned off the engine, and carried on with his life having no…
30 Apr 2023 1 hr 23 min

Episode 114 The Murder of Shahieda Valencia Farmer

In 1999, 14 year old Valencia Farmer went out with friends and never came home. Her brutal rape and murder would be one of the first in a wave of violence against women in the Western Cape that seemed inextricably linked to gang culture. (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support the…
23 Apr 2023 1 hr 10 min

Episode 112 The Serial Crimes of Frank Ndebe

In just one week in January 1999, Mpumalanga became the hunting ground of a vicious serial killer leaving three women and one child dead and the lives of two others changed forever. It would not be the SAPS who would track this killer, though. Instead, he would practically be delivered…
8 Apr 2023 35 min

Episode 111 The Serial Crimes of Andrew Jordaan

On the 28th of May 2018, Felicity Cilliers disappeared in Stellenbosch. When her body was found two days later, her father was sure that the case would be resolved quickly, there was so much evidence against the man he knew had done it after all. He could have no idea…
29 Mar 2023 43 min

Episode 110 The Murders of Marna Engelbrecht & Sharnelle Hough

On the morning of the 26th of May 2018, the small Northwest town of Stella was ripped apart when the bodies of schoolgirls Marna Engelbrecht and Sharnelle Hough were discovered in their school hostel. What at first appeared to be a suicide would soon be shown to be a ruthless…
28 Mar 2023 1 hr 58 min

Episode 109 The Murder of Myrna Joy Aken

67 years ago an 18 year old girl lost her life to a calculated predator and although her memory should have long faded from the minds of those who knew her, for some, Myrna Joy Aken remains very much alive in their memories. (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support the show…
13 Mar 2023 1 hr 02 min

Episode 108 The Murder of Baby Daniel

When paramedics arrived at a home in Johannesburg in June 2016, they found the lifeless body of a 3-year-old boy. His caregivers claimed he had died after an accidental fall into a bath of water, but the autopsy would tell a very different story (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support the…
5 Mar 2023 54 min

Episode 107 The Elephant in the Room

In 2012, Hawks and officials from Cape Nature uncovered the largest single haul of illegal ivory in the country to that point. The discovery would herald changes in the way South Africa prosecuted wildlife crimes but the true horror of these crimes lies in their connections to a range of…
28 Feb 2023 38 min

Episode 106 - The Serial Crimes of Phindile Ntshongwana

In March 2011, residents of Kwazulu-Natal would be terrified by a string of brutal and seemingly random ax murders on the streets of their province. Although excellent investigative action would lead to the capture of the serial killer, it would emerge that the man should never have been on the…
20 Feb 2023 1 hour

Episode 105 The Murder of Marike de Klerk

When the body of Marike de Klerk was found in her Blouberg apartment in December 2001, rumours and conspiracy theories abounded. Her political connections and the difficulties she'd dealt with in the years leading up to her death meant that it was hard for the public to believe this could…
12 Feb 2023 1 hr 08 min
60 – 80