Hell to Pay

Reactionary nihilism, ideological world building, and kitty litters in classrooms: in this episode, journalist and author Katherine Stewart takes us inside the power center of American conservatives.

Katherine's substack: https://substack.com/@katherinestewartbooks

Katherine's latest book: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/money-lies-and-god-9781635578546/

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Episode Description: 

In this episode of Hell to Pay, Sipho Hlongwane and Elle Hardy are joined by journalist and author Pontsho Pilane to unravel the rise — and flight — of Shepherd Bushiri, the self-proclaimed prophet turned fugitive. From prosperity preaching and financial fraud to allegations of sexual abuse, we explore how faith, wealth, and impunity collide in the megachurch era. Plus: how Bushiri fits into a broader African r...

Suppose you are a fan of Cairo’s Al-Ahly football club. Your team, the most successful club in the world in terms of trophies won, but currently sits second in the league table, one point behind surprise contenders Haras El Hodood (“Border Guards”) Football Club. Next up is an away trip to Port Said to face Masry Football Club.

Unlike other away matches, however, 72 Ahly fans will not make the return journey home. The utter carn...

In May 1986, two of President Ronald Reagan’s National Security Council advisors, Oliver North and Robert “Bud” McFarlane touched down in Tehran on a secret diplomatic mission. 

The event blew open what became known as the Iran-Contra affair, one of the greatest scandals in modern American history. 

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Theme music: War Machine (The Purpose of ...

After Roe v Wade legalized abortion in the United States in 1973, evangelicals have made it one of the most important conservative issues.

At first, however, evangelicals supported the decision for a woman's right to chose — until a machiavellian conservative Catholic activist engineered the shift by making it about another issue entirely.

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Teenagers, rock music, pentagrams... and a country on the brink of collapse. In this episode, we dig into one of the strangest moral panics in South African history — when fears of Satanism swept through churches, schools, and headlines during the final days of apartheid.

But this wasn’t just about devil worship. It was about white fear, gender violence, and a society terrified of change. From American conspiracy theories to r...

United States Army Biological Warfare Laboratories chemist Frank Olson was found dead in suspicious circumstances after being covertly dosed with LSD. 

Just how deep does knowledge of his death go? Will his family able to find justice? And why the hell did the CIA send him to see a magician? 

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Theme music: War Machine (The Purpose of a Syste...

After WWII, Australia took in a lot of refugees from Europe. Unfortunately, some of them had ties to Croatia’s Ustaše — the fascist government that even the Nazis thought went too far. They got the band back together in two remarkably conspicuous places: football clubs, and the conservative Liberal Party. 

Come for the football banter, stay for lesson in Australian slurs.

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Frank Olson was a chemist working for the United States Army Biological Warfare Laboratories when he was covertly dosed with LSD. Shortly afterwards, he was found dead in highly suspicious circumstances.

Support us by signing up for our Substack at https://helltopaypodcast.substack.com/

Theme music: War Machine (The Purpose of a System Is What It Does) by Sister Ray Davies. Check them out: https://www.instagram.com/sisterray...

In June 2019, Brazilian preacher Anderson do Carmo was murdered in cold blood in a flashy suburb of Rio de Janeiro.

Along with his wife Flordelis, the couple had become famous for adopting over 50 street children after emerging from poverty to start a series of successful churches with a heavy emphasis on the prosperity gospel.

But was it really a robbery gone wrong — or were there more sinister forces at play?

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On June 18 2023, a Sikh plumbing business owner called Hardeep Singh Nijjar was executed in a carpark in British Columbia. 

The Canadian government accused the Indian version of the CIA of doing the hit — and that’s only the beginning of a fallout that continues to reverberate around the world. 

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Theme music: War Machine (The Purpose of a Sy...

Sipho talks Elon Musk, Donald Trump and how apartheid South Africa found its way into the United States in 2025.

Musk grew up in a country where every government leader was a member of the Afrikaner Broederbond, an exclusively male, Afrikaner Calvinist secret society that dominated political, cultural and social life.

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Theme music: War Machine (The Purpose o...

Aamer, Elle and Sipho discuss how a daring midnight heist inside the Vatican exposed dark networks of fraud, money laundering and sexual abuse, taking down one Pope and threatening the Catholic Church with bankruptcy.

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Theme music: War Machine (The Purpose of a System Is What It Does) by Sister Ray Davies . Check them out: https://www.instagram.com/sisterrayda...