“One of my fondest sporting memories is watching Bafana Bafana play Algeria in the Africa Cup of Nations at the FNB Stadium in 1996. There’d been a morning shower, and the fans seated either side of my friends and I insisted on wiping down our seats with newspaper. Then, at halftime, a bucket of KFC and beverages of unknown make and alcohol content were shared with us. None of the country’s myriad issues were resolved that day but, fleetingly, everything seemed possible. Is that what inspires the Betereinders… and is it enough?” – John Webb, Executive Producer
The Mobster, The Beauty Queen and the Hitmen
For years, Krasimir Kamenov had a fearsome reputation as a mobster on the streets of Bulgaria. But for over a decade, he was hiding out in Constantia, living the high life with his beauty queen wife and entourage while socialising with other ex-patriate Bulgarians. Now Kamenov is dead, brutally assassinated with his family and staff. The murders remain a mystery despite an ongoing police investigation. It seems Eastern European criminals have come to Cape Town to set up stations for drug trafficking and the exploitation of South Africa’s unprotected coastline, its porous ports and lacklustre policing. Much of this is happening in the leafy lanes of well-to-do suburbs where neighbours turn a blind eye to the comings and goings of glamourous foreigners. Carte Blanche investigates.
Producer: Marion Edmunds | Presenter: Erin Bates
Dead Man Driving
In April this year, Gauteng police tracked a stolen vehicle in Hammanskraal. In a panic, the driver told officers a bizarre story that soon had them investigating a different case – an elaborate scheme involving murder and an insurance pay-out close to R2 million. A year before police caught him behind the wheel of the stolen car, Sibusiso Mahlangu had faked his own death in a tragic house fire. But the badly burnt body found in the rubble in fact belonged to Sibusiso Sithebe, the former lover of Mahlangu’s wife, Lerato. For a while, the couple got away undetected with Sithebe’s multi-million-rand life insurance cover… until the wheels came off their devious plan.
Producer: Ntokozo Sindane | Presenter: Claire Mawisa
A Better Ending
They call themselves the Betereinders, a play on the never-say-die Bittereinders – the Afrikaans resistance campaign that held back the British Empire during the South African War in the early 1900s. But the Betereinders are on a different mission, quite literally dedicated to a better end for their country. They want to create a better South Africa for all, one good deed at a time: from fixing potholes to teaching maths and building schools. They believe that fixing South Africa truly begins where people meet each other outside their familiar, all-too-comfortable worlds. Carte Blanche meets South Africans who are finding ways to bring a divided nation together.
Producer: Hamilton Wende | Presenter: Xola Ntshinga
CARTE BLANCHE: THE PODCAST
NHI Gets the Side-Eye
Move BRICS, get out the way! Could government hand over this political hot potato to China? Then, we explore why the NHI simply won’t work in its current form. And an unbelievable story of survival.
Taking it All
They carry firearms, kick down doors and arrest suspected criminals. But they aren’t the police… Fed up with crime in their communities, this self-appointed anti-crime unit in Gauteng is using its own methods to combat criminality.
PICKS OF THE WEEK
Nightmare Nightclub
Underage drinking, sexual assaults, and murder… We investigate a popular nightclub in Gauteng with a nasty reputation for violence.
[UPDATE] Adoption Agony
It was a heartbreaking story: couples unable to have their own children, desperate to adopt. Then, shockingly duped by a social worker they thought was on their side. In May 2022, we investigated the social worker at the centre of a callous scam that robbed deserving couples of their dreams of family. Now, it seems, justice is about to be served.
[FULL STORY] Adoption Agony
Well known in social worker circles and social media savvy, she markets her services to couples desperate for children but unable to conceive. An honourable calling. But a thorough and often complex investigation reveals all is not as it seems. We delve into a controversial adoption agent, hearing from some of the couples who allege their hopes for a happy family have been dashed by broken promises and blatant lies.
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