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Chilling details have emerged of a recent failed bomb attack in the packed Food Court of the Ballito Junction Regional Mall. The device was placed by a 15-year-old radicalised teen intent on committing mass killing, but it failed to explode. The FBI alerted The Hawks, but the bomb had already been placed. The teen was finally arrested last week. In this interview with Chris Steyn, Willem Els, the Senior Training Coordinator on Terrorism and Explosives Related Incidents at the Transnational Threat and International Crimes Programme of the Institute for Security Studies, says: “For a long time, we've been warning about your prevalence of the so-called Lone Wolf scenario in South Africa…And this is maybe a wake-up call for South Africa ”. Prior to placing the bomb, the teen had published his Manifesto on Telegram. In it, he glorified mass killings and claimed that traumatic personal experiences had driven him to extremist online communities whose members were the only people who understood him. Listing all the red flags in the subsequent handling of the case, Els calls for a thorough IPID investigation.

Dr Frans Cronje joins Alec Hogg for a wide-ranging catch-up that reframes the week's political noise into something more useful: a structural theory of why the DA is stuck and what it actually has to do next. His regime change argument is sharp — South Africans have lost confidence in the ANC, but they haven't yet gained confidence in the DA as a replacement. Until they do, the country sits in no-man's land. His defense of Tony Leon is equally direct: what Steenhuisen has alleged is lobbying, not state capture, and conflating the two is both factually wrong and damaging to the economy. Also today: Prosus raises $1.65 billion in investment-grade AI-era debt; Hyprop's oversubscribed JSE capital raise proves the exchange is working exactly as it should; and Rob Hersov makes the case for flagpole neutrality at Bishops.

In today’s episode, we cover the surge in oil prices following US airstrikes on Iran. We also review $50 billion in new defense deals from the NATO summit in Turkey. Locally, experts unpack the DA’s internal credibility crisis and controversial cabinet appointments, alongside the reality of South Africa's R40 billion automotive subsidy program amid Chery’s plant takeover. Finally, we look at Nigel Farage forcing a by-election by resigning as the Clacton MP.

William Sanderson-Meyer has been watching South African politicians for more than three decades. His verdict on John Steenhuisen's News24 interview is unsparing: it was a ransom note. Not a whistleblower's disclosure, not a principled stand — a threat, published in the open, by a man who cannot accept his own demotion and needs the DA to find him a way out. WSM traces the damage: a personal financial hit of half a million rand a year, severed relationships, a tainted brand, and a party now forced to choose between quietly paying him off or risking a public war three months before a local government election. Either outcome, WSM argues, tells you exactly who is really running the DA. Also today: National Treasury pulls funding from 65 municipalities including Johannesburg, Shell sells its South African forecourts to Abu Dhabi's ADNOC, and 91's founders buy their own shares.

In his latest interview with Chris Steyn, Solly Moeng, blasts President Cyril Ramaphosa for his appointments of Ayanda Dlodlo as Ambassador to France and Dina Pule to Cabinet. “...the ANC still looks in its own dustbin of people they've thrown in the past to say, OK, maybe this one, people have forgotten who they are. Let's use them again.” He further slams the President’s failure to act against suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu. “It's the same thing as Jacob Zuma not being charged for State Capture… This whole Madlanga Commission was started because this man decided to, from what we've heard, listen to voices that he shouldn't have listened to in order to dismantle a police unit that was busy scratching in places where seemingly the criminal network was not liking it anymore.” Moeng also describes the “mud pit” predicament of current Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Geordin Hill-Lewis over the damaging public spat between two former party leaders, Tony Leon and John Steenhuisen “... whether Geordin Hill-Lewis wants to be part of the conversation or not, it's hurting the political party. This is the DA that has always been positioned as morally higher, holier than thou kind of party…it's pushing the DA morally, ethically on the back foot. So it's going to be interesting to see how they survive this.” Moeng further comments on the latest corruption revelations at the Madlanga Commission, and the games being played by some of the big role players. “I really hope that Madlanga will give the criminal justice system something that will lead to the fall of the big names hidden in there.”