“You’ve seen the shaky amateur videos posted online: gangs of men, apparently military trained and armed to the teeth, surrounding a smouldering cash van immobilised by explosives. They’re the stuff of a Hollywood blockbuster so common on our roads and at our shopping malls that they barely warrant a mention in the daily news. This week, we meet a man whose each day might be his last and we’re reminded that we dare not forget that there are hundreds more like him.” ~ John Webb, Executive Producer
Lethal Contact
They’re meticulous operations, executed with military precision by groups of armed criminals unafraid of shooting to kill. In recent years, cash-in-transit robberies have risen alarmingly, forcing the security industry to beef up its guarding and tactical teams to protect these high-risk, high-value operations. For the men and women employed as drivers and guards at the country’s many security companies, every day on the job could be their last. This Sunday, Carte Blanche goes inside the lives of two men at war with each other: a CIT robber planning his next heist and a security guard risking his life by simply doing his job.
Producer: Nicky Troll | Presenter: Lourensa Eckard
Dying to Eat
In a quiet, isolated village in the Eastern Cape, nurses prepare for the day shift at a local clinic. Tholeni near Gcuwa in the Eastern Cape is one of the most impoverished villages in the area – unemployment is high and most families rely on grants for survival. But last year, even the government-sponsored social relief and food parcels couldn’t save seven children from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM). The children died within three months of each other. Theirs are the tragic faces of an under-reported and existential crisis in the country’s poorest regions: kwashiorkor, a painful condition often affecting children starved of proper nutrition. In South Africa, among the two wealthiest countries on the continent, around 15 000 children required hospitalisation because of the condition. It’s a crisis of hunger that’s spread throughout the country and government seems powerless to respond. Carte Blanche investigates.
Producer: Tarryn Crossman | Presenter: Govan Whittles
CARTE BLANCHE: THE PODCAST
Fixing the Country… and the Rand
We look at why Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has his sights set on Africa. Then, a Harvard report provides some clues on how to fix the country. We make sense of the Forex Cartel case involving multiple major banks. Later, the global fight against TB continues and South Africa is leading the way. And does size really matter? When it comes to small towns, the answer is no.
Ikwezi Lokusa: A Good Deed
It should have been a moment of celebration; hundreds of donations from generous Carte Blanche viewers delivered to children with special needs at Ikwezi Lokusa. But it almost ended in anger and frustration for the volunteers…
PICKS OF THE WEEK
Cooking the Books
It was when her longtime clients were most vulnerable –dealing with the passing of loved ones – that one Pretoria accountant allegedly dipped into their funds. But where were the industry watchdogs when things went very wrong
Written in the Bones
She’s among the rare few experts who can decipher thes ecrets in bones. Through her work, she reveals how and why a newborn baby passed away.
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