News24 The Lead

An Ace in the hole, with Karyn Maughan

Loading player...
Today on The Lead, we cross to Bloemfontein where specialist legal journalist Karyn Maughan was in the Free State High Court, where former premier Ace Magashule pleaded not guilty to allegations of fraud, corruption and money laundering charges in the asbestos tender scam trial. The former ANC Secretary-General and 17 others, including businessman Edwin Sodi are in the dock in connection with the R255-million scheme to audit and remove asbestos from Free State homes. State prosecutors have dubbed the case as a “thieves’ picnic”. Maughan discusses what happened in court today, including how Magashule asked whether the state was confident about their charges against him. Later we look at how National Institute for Communicable Diseases has declared South Africa’s flu season open as well as who the lucky winner of the R110 million PowerBall jackpot is. Mail your comments and voice notes to thelead@24.com. Editions drop Monday through Thursday at 19:00 on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube.
Chapters
  • 00:01 Graeme's intro
  • 01:20 Crossing to Karyn Maughan
  • 15:00 Trending topic: SA flu season is early
  • 15:51 And finally: A lottery fairytale
  • 16:41 AD: Audiobook of the Month
  • 17:33 Graeme's outro
16 Apr 2025 English South Africa News · Society & Culture

Other recent episodes

Return to the Bellville South house of horrors

In this edition, The Lead returns to the Bellville South house of horrors with News24 court and crime journalist, Lisalee Solomons. She reports that 63-year-old Aletta Rose, the murder convict accused of decapitating her Cape Town sister in March, has been giving court and remand prison authorities a headache. Rose, who now…
20 May 26 min

PowerBall? The lotto king’s curious business ties

The licence to operate the Lotto is about to change hands to Sizekhaya Holdings, not without claims of alleged misconduct by those left out of the ultra-lucrative tender. The man steering that outfit is Moses Tembe, a figure who's in business with at least three others precariously close to Deputy…
18 May 39 min

Your ultimate Phala Phala couch catch-up

President Cyril Ramaphosa reckons he's got a fair chance of challenging an independent panel's findings that he may have broken the law in relation to the 2020 theft of a large sum of money from a couch based at his Phala Phala game lodge. But this “Section 89” report, overseen…
13 May 33 min

OR Tambo gold bust haunts SAPS major generals. Plus: Cape storm wrap

We kick off this news week with two more senior police figures in the dock, this time facing serious charges in connection with a peculiar unwrought gold bust at OR Tambo International Airport about five years ago. Major Generals Feroz Khan and Ebrahim Kadwa, and security company boss Tariq Downes,…
11 May 19 min

The City of Gold is bankrupt

The City of Gold is bankrupt. And don't take our word for it, the finance minister says so! Enoch Godongwana has even instructed Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero to halt a R10 billion wage hike for municipal workers, a move that may come back to bite the beleaguered administration. Here, in this…
7 May 20 min
All episodes