News24 The Lead

Selling sweets to pay for matric ball and May’s best good news stories

Loading player...
From a viral Grade 12 pupil selling sweets every morning at a local taxi rank to attend his matric dance to a young Ikeys rugby star who got a shock call-up from Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus, by the end of Tuesday’s discussion with Good News editor Paul Herman in The Lead, we hope to leave you feeling extra inspired and proud to be a South African. Later in the show, host Graeme Raubenheimer discusses controversial Gauteng tenderpreneur Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala who abandoned his bid for bail in connection with an alleged failed hit. Finally, we look at how the economy barely budged in this year’s first quarter. 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
  • 01:47 Interview with Paul Herman
  • 21:22 Trending topic: The Cat in cuffs
  • 22:49 And finally: Bad GDP growth
  • 23:59 Graeme's outro
3 Jun 2025 English South Africa News · Society & Culture

Other recent episodes

‘Cat’ Matlala tried to open an ultra-lux OR Tambo airport terminal

When the “Cat” wasn’t sneaking his way into the heart of police operations, the controversial tender don was also trying to build a private international airport terminal with Nedbank’s financing help. Investigative journalist Jeff Wicks details yet another failed venture by Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala. Later, in our trending topic, a…
15 Jan 18 min

Is the ‘prime lending rate’ just a load of BS?

Is the so-called “prime lending rate” – the fancifully advertised rate that banks use as a reference or pegging point to sell bonds and loans to us – just a giant load of untested BS? Why is it 350 basis points more than our much-deserved low repo rate, and isn’t…
14 Jan 25 min

Everything you need to know about the 2025 matric results

Back to school, back to reality… With schools about to reopen, senior education journalist Prega Govender takes stock of the 2025 matric results. Think of it like a scale: on one end, a greater average pass rate, while on the other, fewer pupils are taking critical subjects like standard maths…
13 Jan 32 min

Is KZN’s paper-thin coalition on the rocks?

Provincial coalition politics in KwaZulu-Natal are on shaky, uncertain ground, with the small kingmaker National Freedom Party trying to call the shots, threatening to pull out of the IFP, ANC, and DA government of provincial unity, leaving the MKP rubbing its hands. Our man in Durban, Soyiso Maliti, reports the…
12 Jan 25 min

Should SA get involved in the US-Venezuela crisis?

While the SACP marched on the US Embassy in Pretoria on Thursday to denounce the Trump administration’s abduction of another sitting head of state, the political parties that make up the current government of national unity (GNU) failed to see eye-to-eye on how best to react to the US-Venezuela crisis…
8 Jan 29 min
All episodes