News24 The Lead

Bye-bye Floyd - why MK speared Shivambu as SG, with Andisiwe Makinana

Loading player...
He took off his red beret to take up the spear. But the writing’s been on the wall for some time before the MK Party  booted Floyd Shivambu out of its secretary-general office on Tuesday and onto the benches in Parliament. “Floyd’s visit to [Shepherd Bushiri] in Malawi was an excuse they could find to take action against him,” says News24 political editor Andisiwe Makinana who joins us in the studio to discuss what this shift means for Shivambu’s political prospects. Later in the show, South Africa’s deputy president goes big on the taxpayer’s ticket in Japan. Finally, claims of imminent June power cuts are hogwash, says our disinformation desk. You can now send a short voice note of 15 to 20 seconds with your questions or thoughts on this episode to our official The Lead WhatsApp line, that’s: +27 72 562 3179. Mail your comments and voice notes to thelead@24.com. Editions drop Monday through Thursday at 19:00 on Spotify, Apple and YouTube.
4 Jun English South Africa News · Society & Culture

Other recent episodes

How a Polish website drives fake news in SA

A new report, put out by a research centre at Stellenbosch University, has now exposed a Poland-based news group called Visegrád24 for amplifying the views of alt-right commentators and their false narratives and mistruths about what’s happening in South Africa today. The report, authored by the university’s Centre for Information…
18 Aug 39 min

What to do with a rogue general? With Pieter du Toit

It seems like anyone can become South Africa’s foreign policy spokesperson these days. Just ask the chief of our defence force. South African National Defence Force chief General Rudzani Maphwanya jetted off to Tehran this week to meet with his Iranian counterpart and, quite astonishingly, spoke like the country’s foreign minister…
14 Aug 24 min

Billions for blue lights, SA’s VIP protection splurge with Jan Gerber

R1.47bn. This is how much the government has spent on protecting its VIPs from the 2020/21 financial year to date. And it’s not even the full picture of the cost. It’s especially mind-boggling, given that around R2.3bn has been set aside just this year alone to keep VIPs safe. To…
13 Aug 29 min

Coalition crumbles and cloak and dagger dealings in Joburg metro

The game of thrones, with its political musical chairs for coalition maneuvering now even has smaller parties pitted amongst each other in the government of local unity in the City of Johannesburg where local service delivery has suffered and urban decay has set in, in more recent years. Central to…
12 Aug 38 min

Exposing the pension agency’s near R1bn ghost headquarters deal

Another day, another allegedly dodgy case involving a lesser-known state agency. This time, News24’s investigations team has uncovered evidence that the Government Pensions Administration Agency (GPAA) has issued millions to a company to facilitate its new headquarters in the capital, Pretoria. Yet contractor Shula Developers has not secured the lease…
11 Aug 34 min
All episodes