Marikana’s long shadow

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝟮𝟰 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰. It started with a young boy playing drums on the strange rocks on his favourite Wild Coast beach. Back then, Benny Mbotho didn’t realise that his playground was a series of unique fossil beds along the shore. But thanks to his grandmother, and her love of the beach and its fossils, he began to see this coastline from a new perspective. Right in front of him were the remnants of shark teeth, giant clams and petrified tree trunks from a time long forgotten: the age of the dinosaurs. And for the past five decades, Benny has been guarding these treasures for future generations. Find more exclusive content on Carte Blanche: The Podcast: https://linktr.ee/carteblanchetv

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝟳 𝗔𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗹 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰. In the Northern Cape, government built what should’ve been a functional, modern, state-run mental healthcare facility. It was the long-awaited fulfilment of a promise to those in need of mental healthcare services in a province desperate for psychiatric facilities. But five years after it was finally opened, whistleblowers have come forward describing a facility that’s in urgent need of attention. And for once, a lack of funds isn’t the problem. Documents and images obtained by Carte Blanche show how the mismanagement of funds by the Northern Cape Department of Health and the hospital are eating away at the budget meant for vulnerable patients. Find more exclusive content on Carte Blanche: The Podcast: https://linktr.ee/carteblanchetv

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝟭𝟳 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰. In the town of Despatch in the Eastern Cape, residents sleep with one eye open. On most nights, brazen robbers wielding pangas and guns stalk their streets, breaking in and terrorising the community in their homes. But are these just opportunistic criminals or are they recruits from gangs entrenched in Gqeberha’s inner city? From drug dealing to gun smuggling, the biggest city in the Eastern Cape has long been wracked by criminal enterprises vying for turf. Now, similarly violent operators are making the rural outskirts their stronghold. As residents and private security companies fight back, Carte Blanche investigates why this community has become such an easy target. Find more exclusive content on Carte Blanche: The Podcast: https://linktr.ee/carteblanchetv

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝟮𝟰 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰. In November last year, a ten-year-old girl was found during a routine traffic roadblock, squashed inside the luggage compartment of a long-distance bus. She had been smuggled from Zimbabwe into South Africa under extreme conditions for several hours. But her case isn’t unusual. In this months-long investigation, Carte Blanche unravels alleged cross-border human trafficking and the shadowy figures known as transporters who are making it all possible. Undocumented foreign nationals are lured to South Africa from numerous African countries – many of them ending up on the streets of Johannesburg North. Thousands of Malawians are lured into the country on the promise of a new life, some smuggled by long-haul bus companies and funeral parlours, only to be forced into sex work and manual labour. In an even more sinister twist, many of the victims are coerced into taking out funeral policies on themselves once they reach South Africa. It’s an unusual demand but a guaranteed income as the transporters cash in on vulnerable undocumented foreign nationals. Find more exclusive content on Carte Blanche: The Podcast: https://linktr.ee/carteblanchetv