“Riebeek Kasteel is a microcosm of how the country at large is dealing with the fallout from the anti-immigration marches. It’s complex, too. The toxic rhetoric and incidents of violence that accompanied the protests were easy – and rightly – criticised as xenophobic, but undocumented migration, its consequences, and the complicity of some employers in the mess we currently find ourselves in, is a more challenging story to tell.” – John Webb, Executive Producer
After the Exodus
For generations, Riebeeck-Kasteel was a refuge for foreign nationals. They cleaned guesthouses, served meals in restaurants, and washed mountains of laundry. Now, after several hundred fled in the wake of threats and violence, businesses struggle to absorb the loss of an entire workforce overnight. Fear stalks those left behind: they live in secrecy, dependent on the kindness of locals, waiting their turn to leave. Carte Blanche visits the quiet Western Cape village that’s now a frontline of our immigration debate.
Producer: Catherine Rice | Presenter: Erin Bates
Dead Sheep
Routine dosing ends with death for nearly two hundred sheep and sends one farmer on a months-long journey through a fragmented regulatory landscape. At the heart of the problem: legislation splits responsibility for veterinary medications between separate departments. Add bureaucratic delays, information not made publicly available, and powerful drugs in the hands of laypeople… and this becomes a story about more than one farmer’s loss. Carte Blanche investigates the system meant to regulate animal medicines – and protect us, when they ultimately make their way onto our plates.
Producer: Harri Vithi | Presenter: Claire Mawisa
The Timekeepers
For generations, it kept time over Church Square. But then, one of Pretoria’s oldest voices fell silent. Now, thirty years later a father and son team are working tirelessly to bring the clock atop the Ou Raadsaal back to life. A giant mechanism, six-tonne bells, and a 43 kilogram pendulum: the clock is a masterwork of precision, nearly destroyed by decades of neglect. But one man is keeping a years-long promise to himself, and passing on a passion inherited from his own grandfather, to preserve a piece of living history.
Producer: Latashia Naidoo | Presenter: Govan Whittles
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