Coming up on Carte Blanche‎ on M-Net & M-Net HD [101], Sunday 05 May 2024 at 19:00

Broken Promises: Eastern Cape
In the Eastern Cape, thousands of talented young athletes with the potential to be tomorrow’s sports heroes don’t have access to proper facilities. In villages across the province, netball courts, rugby fields and athletics tracks are a rare sight. So, when the provincial government promised the rural community of Sakhisizwe that it would build a new multi-million rand stadium, it was a welcome development. Fast forward several years and the much-anticipated high-performance centre is little more than an abandoned field. But Sakhisizwe is not the only community that’s been promised new or refurbished facilities costing millions, only for developers to pocket the money and fail to deliver. In this election campaign, Carte Blanche crisscrosses the province, tracking several costly infrastructure projects in one of the poorest parts of the country, and finds a trail of broken promises.

Producer: Sipha Kema
Presenter: Claire Mawisa
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Trafficked – The Raid
In South Africa, the smuggling of undocumented foreign nationals into the country has reached a crisis point. In March, our months-long investigation into human trafficking revealed how thousands of people without legitimate identity documents and passports are transported on long-haul buses across our porous borders before they’re trafficked by criminal syndicates. Following our investigation, police are cracking down on the criminals responsible for producing and distributing fake travel documents. With exclusive access, Carte Blanche joined an early morning police raid conducted in cooperation with the Department of Home Affairs. Their target: the suspected hideout of a syndicate allegedly responsible for forging passports, asylum seeker permits and visas.

Producer: Graham Coetzer
Presenter: Macfarlane Moleli
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A Wild Strategy
It’s a strategy that’s been in place since 2016. But in March this year, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment unveiled a revised strategy to harness our natural resources. It plans to aggressively exploit our biodiversity on a massive scale to create money and jobs. Some called it ambitious, while others sounded the alarm claiming the move to attract more international trophy hunters could make South Africa a pariah of the conservation world. Government’s plan also includes stimulating the domestic trade in ivory and rhino horn, creating health clinics and selling rhino horn to tourists from the Far East. But, if properly implemented, could the revised National Biodiversity Economy Strategy to commodify a range of wildlife and plants generate increased revenue and jobs for rural communities? Carte Blanche examines this growing controversy.

Producer: Catherine Rice
Presenter: Masa Kekana
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Carte Blanche: The Podcast
Unique stories. Unique perspectives. Carte Blanche: The Podcast delves beneath the headlines into South African and global issues, bringing you the stories that matter. Like what you hear? Drop us a rating or review.

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Please note Carte Blanche line-ups are subject to change.