TimesLIVE Podcasts True Crime South Africa

True Crime South Africa

True Crime South Africa is the first victim-focused true-crime podcast in the country.

Host, Nicole Engelbrecht, researches each case herself using media coverage, trial footage, social media sources and often by talking to some of the individuals involved. Using her skills as a creative writer and her passion for true crime, she crafts each script to ensure that listeners are given a deep dive into the case mechanics as well as an understanding of the victims as human beings.

The podcast covers both solved and unsolved South African true crime cases. The unsolved cases are often cold cases which can benefit from awareness being brought to them. This concept has been used in the US for many years and to great success. The listenership formed around true crime podcasts becomes a community that advocates for victims and resolution for families. South African victims now have their own voice too.

True Crime South Africa publishes weekly, alternating between full-length case episodes and shorter minisodes which discuss true crime cases that are currently in the media. The podcast launched on the 22nd of June 2019 and is making waves in the South African podcast community. On the True Crime South Africa social media pages, South African true crime fans finally have a place to call home where they can express their views on cases and discuss the details with like-minded people.

True Crime South Africa is published in conjunction with Arena Holdings, publishers of TimesLIVE, BusinessLIVE, and SowetanLIVE. 

Keywords: crime, true crime, murder, abduction, South Africa, police, law and order
Weekly English Explicit South Africa True Crime · News Narrated by Scott Peter Smith
329 Episodes
120 – 140

Episode 109 The Murder of Myrna Joy Aken

67 years ago an 18 year old girl lost her life to a calculated predator and although her memory should have long faded from the minds of those who knew her, for some, Myrna Joy Aken remains very much alive in their memories. (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support the show…
13 Mar 2023 1 hr 02 min

Episode 108 The Murder of Baby Daniel

When paramedics arrived at a home in Johannesburg in June 2016, they found the lifeless body of a 3-year-old boy. His caregivers claimed he had died after an accidental fall into a bath of water, but the autopsy would tell a very different story (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support the…
5 Mar 2023 54 min

Episode 107 The Elephant in the Room

In 2012, Hawks and officials from Cape Nature uncovered the largest single haul of illegal ivory in the country to that point. The discovery would herald changes in the way South Africa prosecuted wildlife crimes but the true horror of these crimes lies in their connections to a range of…
28 Feb 2023 38 min

Episode 106 - The Serial Crimes of Phindile Ntshongwana

In March 2011, residents of Kwazulu-Natal would be terrified by a string of brutal and seemingly random ax murders on the streets of their province. Although excellent investigative action would lead to the capture of the serial killer, it would emerge that the man should never have been on the…
20 Feb 2023 1 hour

Episode 105 The Murder of Marike de Klerk

When the body of Marike de Klerk was found in her Blouberg apartment in December 2001, rumours and conspiracy theories abounded. Her political connections and the difficulties she'd dealt with in the years leading up to her death meant that it was hard for the public to believe this could…
12 Feb 2023 1 hr 08 min

Introducing: Your Mom with Schalk

Telltale Media presents Your Mom with Schalk Comedian Schalk Bezuidenhout gets us front row seats with some of the most exceptional people in South Africa as we get to know their stories like we've never heard them before. Not told through their eyes but rather through those that know them…
9 Feb 2023 2 min

Bonus Episode: The Storyteller Tells Her Story

In this episode Vanessa Lynch from DNAforAfrica turns the microphone on Nicole Engelbrecht to chat about her journey into podcasting and writing about South African true crime (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support the show on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/truecrimesa) (Support the show on PayPal https://www.paypal.me/truecrimesa)
9 Feb 2023 56 min

Episode 104 The Murder of Graham Chatburn

When 49-year-old Graham Chatburn is found in the Liesbeek River with a crossbow bolt through his skull, his friends and family cannot fathom who would want to harm the loving father and husband. As the pieces of the investigation start to fall into place, though, Graham's family will have to…
3 Feb 2023 48 min

Episode 102 - The Skierlik Massacre

18-year-old Johan Nel was well-known in the informal settlement of Skierlik in the North West Province. He was the young man who sold chickens to residents each week and his presence was always welcome. On the 14th of January 2008, Johan arrived in Skierlik with something else in mind. That…
22 Jan 2023 58 min

Episode 101 A Pyramid of Death

When four gun shots rang out in an office block in Cape Town CBD on the 26th of July 2012, they heralded the end of two lives and the beginning of a world of pain for thousands of people who'd been fleeced into joining one of South Africa's largest Ponzi…
7 Jan 2023 1 hr 06 min

Spotlight Minisode 2022 Wrap

In this week's spotlight minisode we wrap the year by remembering some of the greatest moments the podcast has had in the last 12 months as well as some of the crimes that have rocked South Africa and cases that have been resolved this year. (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support…
23 Dec 2022 36 min

Episode 100 The Murder of Siam Lee Part 2

When 20-year-old Siam Lee went missing from her place of work in Kwazulu-Natal in 2018, her disappearance made headlines for all the wrong reasons. As the story developed, she and her mother would be cast as one-dimensional characters in the story being told about them. When Siam's remains were found,…
16 Dec 2022 1 hr 03 min

Episode 100 The Murder of Siam Lee Part 1

When 20-year-old Siam Lee went missing from her place of work in Kwazulu-Natal in 2018, her disappearance made headlines for all the wrong reasons. As the story developed, she and her mother would be cast as one-dimensional characters in the story being told about them. When Siam's remains were found,…
16 Dec 2022 55 min

Episode 99.5 The Murder of Arnold Schultz

One couple. One farm. Two murders in the space of a month. When Arnold Schultz is found murdered on his farm in Philippi just one month after his life partner, Hester Koch suffered the same fate, it seems impossible that there is not some link between the two crimes. (24-hr…
4 Dec 2022 44 min

Episode 99 - The Murder of Erin van Rensburg

When Stellenbosch university student, Erin van Rensburg, went missing from her flat on the 1st of June 2009, red flags immediately sprang up around one particular man who'd shown an obsessive interest in the pretty young girl. (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support the show on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/truecrimesa) (Support the show…
3 Dec 2022 1 hr 04 min

Episode 98 The Murder of Koos & Erna Wolmarans

When a call comes into Westville police station late one March night in 2000, an investigation is triggered that will uncover a far different crime than the robbery-gone-wrong that was initially presented. (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support the show on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/truecrimesa) (Support the show on PayPal https://www.paypal.me/truecrimesa)
27 Nov 2022 44 min

Episode 97 The Murder of Zarah Hector

When mother of two, Zarah Hector disappeared after leaving her place of work on the 15th of March 2016, an extensive search ensues. Nine days after her disappearance, Zarah's body was discovered and the puzzle pieces of her horrific murder showed how deeply the woman had been betrayed by someone…
18 Nov 2022 40 min

Spotlight Minisode 45

In this week's Spotlight Minisode we take a look at Nkosinathi Phakathi, the man who is likely SA's most prolific serial rapist; the death of a 7-month-old baby in Australia, allegedly at the hands of his South African father, Reinhardt Bosch; and the strange case of Robin Smith who police…
14 Nov 2022 20 min

Episode 96 - The Serial Crimes of Robin Cloete

When Marilyn Jones attempts to break up with her boyfriend Robin Cloete, the man refuses to accept the woman's wishes and bloodshed ensues. This should have been the end of Robin Cloete's crimes against women, but, sadly, it was just the beginning. (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support the show on…
5 Nov 2022 44 min
120 – 140