Elections Roadshow: Eastern Cape

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝟮𝟭 𝗝𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟵. Against the backdrop of South Africa’s soaring crime rate and the outsourcing of safety and security to private companies in suburbia, Carte Blanche gets unprecedented access to the well-organised and notorious Mayitsha group that has become prosecutor, judge and executioner for anyone accused of a crime in their Eastern Cape home village – and they claim a startling success rate. Research shows that 3% of South Africans belong to vigilante groups. Can this kind of outsourced justice restore the peace or will it further perpetuate division in a country where citizens are fed up with the high levels of violence? Your favourite episodes are now available on Carte Blanche: The Podcast: https://bit.ly/PodcastCB

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝟮𝟬 𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟮. It’s early November in a small town in the eastern Karoo. In the distance, screams from young children break the morning silence, as the thunder of running footsteps draws closer. Salvaged wire, tin-can tyres, and a mad dash through the streets of Philipstown in the Northern Cape. They call it the Draadkar Grand Prix: a mesmerising festival of Karoo culture and expertly hand-crafted wire cars “driven” by children of all ages. The event even has a place in the Guinness Book of Records. The prize? Local fame and absolute glory. Carte Blanche heads to the Karoo to experience this exhilarating spectacle. Your favourite episodes are now available on Carte Blanche: The Podcast: https://bit.ly/PodcastCB

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝟭𝟭 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟮. A decades-long war has turned innocent children into child soldiers. Not in the DRC or Sudan, but in Majola, Port St. Johns. Groomed to defend their homes and avenge loved ones lost in the terror, childhood friends and relatives have become sworn enemies. Homes have been torched, people hacked to pieces with pangas. Now, sleeping in the forests and mountains has become the norm for these Eastern Cape children, security and warm bed foreign concepts as they trek to safety under the cover of darkness. Carte Blanche investigates what lies behind this 50-year war between a cluster of villages… with no end in sight. Your favourite episodes are now available on Carte Blanche: The Podcast: https://bit.ly/PodcastCB

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝟯𝟬 𝗢𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟮. WARNING: this story contains graphic descriptions of abuse and sexual assault. When businesswoman, Nozi Xamlashe , was pulled over by a police officer in Mthatha, in the Eastern Cape, she could not have known how the interaction that followed would one day change her life. The officer asked for her phone number and when she declined his advances, he made a chilling threat, one he would brutally fulfil months later while she was working at her hair salon. But Xamlashe’s is just one of many terrifying encounters Mthatha residents say they’ve had with the police. In this community – one of the top three most violent in the country – residents say far from being enforcers of the law, the police are often part of the problem. Carte Blanche investigates missing dockets and dirty cops at Mthatha’s two police stations, where cases of violent crime go uninvestigated. Your favourite episodes are now available on Carte Blanche: The Podcast: https://bit.ly/PodcastCB