A murder investigation, a political drama, a courtroom thriller, and a profound exploration of the enduring tensions threatening the “rainbow nation”. Blood Lands won Europe’s top radio award.

"Excellent, evocative, important true crime series.” Jason Burke, The Guardian.

This is my radio series and podcast, for the BBC, based on the same true story - a double murder investigation in small-town South Africa - as my book, These Are Not Gentle People. Produced by Becky Lipscombe, it is available to listen on BBC Sounds - just search for “Blood Lands” or for “Seriously.”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08r24qn

“A masterclass of concise storytelling,” Radio Times

“One of the finest examples of journalism from South Africa, broadcast or print, I have encountered in the nigh-on 45 years since I arrived in Johannesburg to re-open a bureau closed 10 years earlier by Hendrik Verwoerd. You and your editors have excelled in the telling of a powerful story that is deeply redolent of the legacy of apartheid in the rural heartland of South Africa.” John F Burns, New York Times.

Poison – the mystery of South Africa’s toxic new political conspiracy

Who is poisoning South Africa’s politicians?

In a country seemingly overwhelmed by corruption, and scarred by vicious factional battles within the governing party, a strange new conspiracy has emerged, involving claims that prominent figures within the African National Congress party have been targeted for murder by assassins using poison.

“I was given poison,” declared a former State Security Minister, Bongani Bongo recently.

“I thought it was just an allergy… but it was confirmed that it was poison,” said an aide to the ANC’s Secretary General, Ace Magashule.

Even South Africa’s current deputy President, DD Mabuza, has pointedly failed to deny public claims that he, too, has been targeted, and nearly died, after being given poison.