News24 The Lead

Latest twist in unfolding police war, with Tankiso Makhetha

Loading player...
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 linked to the disbanding of the Political Killings Task Team. To get the latest in this cop versus cop tit for tat, we speak to Tankiso Makhetha for this edition of The Lead. Later in the show: The president says it would be unfair to fire the police minister prematurely. Finally, a US ghost hunter dies while leading a creepy doll tour. You can send show host Graeme Raubenheimer a short voice note with your questions or thoughts on this episode to our official The Lead WhatsApp line, that’s: +27 72 562 3179. Mail your comments to thelead@24.com. Editions drop on Monday through Thursday at 19:00 on Spotify, Apple and YouTube.
Chapters
  • 00:01 Graeme's intro
  • 01:51 Crossing to Tankiso Makhetha
  • 14:10 Trending topic: Presidency budget vote
  • 15:56 AD: Bruce Whitfield's Business Week Podcast
  • 16:28 And finally: US paranormal investigator dies
  • 17:29 AD: Driving with J9 Podcast
  • 18:27 Graeme's outro
16 Jul 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