Boss Battles
We meet a taxi boss who serves a R50-bllion industry that more than two-thirds of commuters rely on daily. Shrouded in controversy, violence and conflict, South Africa’s taxi industry is pivotal to the economy. But this taxi boss lives in fear. His family needs bodyguards in their unnatural, sheltered world because of the ever-present target on their backs. In this world, innocence has long gone, and everyone is guilty of something in a bid to “protect” their routes, their lifeblood. South Africans often bear the brunt of the taxi wars. Now, Carte Blanche gets into the back seat to see life through a taxi boss’ eyes, and it isn’t long before bullets start to fly… With all the risks and mitigation measures put in place, the question remains: is it worth it?
Producer: Nicky Troll | Presenter: Macfarlane Moleli
Celebrating Healthcare Heroes
Few would have predicted anything good could come of the Dihlabeng Regional Hospital when Carte Blanche investigated Free State health in 2015. Politically captured, corrupt, and in distress, Dihlabeng was dying, causing immense suffering for patients in need. Medication stock-outs, dysfunctional infrastructure, and a desperate staff shortage meant it couldn’t run its mandated 24-hour service. Today, thanks to leadership, teamwork and a never-say-die attitude, the hospital is back from the brink – fighting, one patient at a time, to restore the public’s confidence. Equally inspiring, we visit the Speech Therapy and Audiology Department at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital that – far from cutting back services when lockdown came – accelerated and expanded its services. Do these stories of everyday heroes doing their jobs well offer a blueprint for fixing public health?
Producer: Laura Byrne | Presenter: Derek Watts
Reviving SA’s Healthcare
It’s a complex story: our public health system buckling under the weight of inequality. Over the course of a month, Carte Blanche chronicled the best and worst in government healthcare, and probed the human cost of not sorting out the severe lack of funding, doctors, and service excellence. In the private sector, the affordability crisis means an ever-shrinking group of South Africans are properly insured. So, what needs to happen to ensure public healthcare finally becomes what people need and deserve? Join a live studio discussion for the views that count.
Spacing Out
Why are we here? Are we alone? How did it all begin? Last Christmas the James Webb Space Telescope was launched into space on a 10-year mission to help find those answers. The size of a school bus, Webb is the successor to the legendary Hubble Space Telescope. Six times larger and a hundred times more powerful, its infrared view of the universe has already heralded the most exquisite pictures of the earliest galaxies and the birth and death of stars. Carte Blanche gets lost in these first stunning images of colliding galaxies and exoplanets with atmospheres that, tantalisingly, could sustain life.
Producer: Julian Sun | Presenter: Claire Mawisa
Team Work!
Each and every one of our suppliers honoured their commitment to the Making a Difference Trust’s work and delivered despite the challenges of a worldwide COVID pandemic.
Each and every one of our suppliers honoured their commitment to CBMADT’s work and delivered despite the challenges of a worldwide COVID pandemic.
We humbly thank our donors for their generosity, resilience, and dedication to once again bring change to so many young lives.
WATCH IT AGAIN
Rocky Road
Jaundré Kidson knew how notorious the N4 between Pretoria and Rustenburg was. It wasn’t roadworks or careless drivers that he feared, but the violent criminals known to be lurking in the shadows.
Midwife Misery
In October 2020, and again in April 2021, the Carte Blanche team exposed a well-known midwife, Yolande Maritz, following several complaints from devastated parents. Her licence has now been revoked.
Road Spikes and Your Safety
While police have intensified patrols in some suspected hotspots where objects are placed on the road or rocks are thrown from bridges, it’s still largely the responsibility of the driver to try and avoid falling victim to these highway gangs.
THE UPDATE
Gerhard Jansen van Vuuren Sentenced
It took nearly ten years but, after the gruesome murder of young Andrea Venter in 2011, police finally had their man in custody. Having gone on the run to Brazil, convicted murderer Gerhard Jansen van Vuuren was finally sentenced to life behind bars last week.
SAA’s wings clipped – again?
When Carte Blanche covered the proposed sale of SAA, one of the biggest questions that remained unanswered was the value of its route rights – the same rights now in danger of being revoked.
Please note: Carte Blanche line-ups are subject to change. Stories can be viewed at www.carteblanche.co.za
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