“In the weeks before COVID struck, I arranged a trip to Svalbard, deep in the Arctic Circle, to film an insert on the “Doomsday” seed vault. Sadly, not long before I was due to leave, the pandemic intervened and air travel ground to a halt. So, I take great satisfaction in being able to broadcast a story on Svalbard’s Seed Vault this Sunday. And, for the record, I bear no grudges against our intrepid producer, Nickolaus Bauer, for having visited a place on my bucket list. I can, however, confirm, that I seem to have misplaced his invoice.” – John Webb, Executive Producer
Blueprint for Corruption
In June, we went inside Johannesburg’s Metro Centre to expose the state of the City’s archives: around one million building plans tumbled from shelves and lay mouldering on the floor in a condemned building, while employees were relocated to safety. Our guide: a civil servant who seemed eager to share his frustration at the collapse of service delivery. Little did we know that, three months later, our inside man would be accused of selling the very building plans he’s meant to organise. We return to investigate a government official taking service delivery to the next level.
Producer: Harri Vithi | Presenter: Masa Kekana
Hot Copper
South Africa is being unplugged. Once a small-scale crime of opportunity, copper theft has morphed into a shadow industry as syndicates, smugglers and silent buyers strip the nation for profit. With cargo trucks, foundries and warehouses being targeted, legitimate traders are forced to hire armed escorts to protect their assets. Meanwhile, train networks halt, vital infrastructure is crippled, and communities are plunged into darkness. We get the inside track on the movement of stolen copper and meet the companies hunting down syndicates. It’s not just copper theft: it’s sabotage of our national stability. Carte Blanche connects the wires on the illicit copper trade.
Producer: Nicky Troll | Presenter: Govan Whittles
The Final Shift
What happens to a town when the mine that built it fades? In Postmasburg, on the edge of the Kalahari, generations of miners and their families have lived in the shadow and dust of the Beeshoek iron ore mine, while the mine club at the town’s heart has bred more than its share of rugby stars. But now, its future hangs in the balance. Soaring tariffs, a spiralling energy crisis, and collapsing transport networks have dismantled the local steel industry. The ore that once fuelled jobs now feeds foreign furnaces, and the mine that has sustained a community for 99 years will not see its centenary. As the country’s industrial heart falls silent, one small community faces a reckoning.
Producer: Anina Peens | presenter: Govan Whittles
Seeds of Survival
Deep under the Arctic snow and ice, a hidden “Doomsday Vault” safeguards the world’s crop diversity. The Svalbard Seed Vault is a rare beacon of global cooperation and trust, an insurance policy against war, agricultural disaster and climate catastrophe. But even as a new consignment of seeds is deposited in the vault, the impacts of climate change are making themselves visible to scientists and residents. Carte Blanche witnesses the work of a place that symbolises a fragile but enduring global trust, and asks: how long before the vault’s ambitious plan to battle climate collapse is really put to the test?
Producer & Presenter: Nickolaus Bauer
STREAMING NOW
Kimberley’s Sewage Lake
Last year, ahead of our national elections, we visited the Northern Cape to see what had become of government’s promises to supply housing, infrastructure and services. What we found were communities hanging on to hope in the face of deepening disillusionment. Kimberley, the provincial capital, was apparently drowning in its own sewage while forgotten communities on the city’s outskirts went unheard. Our subsequent report angered local politicians who said we’d painted a skewed picture. Govan recently returned to the Northern Cape on a different story – but decided to drop in and see how those communities were faring. What he saw was enraging. Watch the full story now on DStv Stream and Catch Up.
UPDATE: Tetelestai Recovery Centre
In August this year, we brought you the story of a rehabilitation centre that promised healing through prayer – but delivered something much more deadly. One family was devastated by the death of their son just days after his admission to Tetelestai Recovery Centre for treatment of cannabis-induced psychosis. Luke Edwards was 32, a writer recently returned from overseas. In April, his body was found just down the road from the centre. He’d been beaten so badly, investigators said it looked like torture. So, what has happened to the rehab centre where everything went so wrong?
NEWS & VIEWS
Revisiting Bosasa [2019]
On Thursday, Angelo Agrizzi pleaded guilty to three counts of corruption and one count of money laundering. The charges relate to prison tenders amounting to about R1.8 billlion. Facing at least 10 years behind bars, it’s understood Agrizzi made a deal with the State to assist with ongoing State Capture cases. In exchange, his sentence has been wholly suspended.
In 2019, Angelo Agrizzi spoke to Carte Blanche exclusively about Bosasa. “I never corrupted anybody. I was a facilitator, yes. I betrayed myself. I betrayed my family. I betrayed the people that looked up to me, the people that respected me. Because I should’ve done this maybe 20 years ago and I wouldn’t have been in this situation,” he told us at the time. Get the full story now on the Carte Blanche website.
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