Inside the Beitbridge Border Blunder: Watch Carte Blanche, this Sunday 21 June 2020 at 19:00, only on M-Net 101.
C O V I D – 1 9 I N V E S T I G A T I O N
Macfarlane Moleli: “Government has built a R37-million fence to curb the movement of people and smugglers during lockdown. But is it really doing its job and was the fence truly worth the millions when a simple pair of pliers is all that’s needed to make it to the other side?”
COVID-19: Beitbridge Border Blunder
As the lockdown of national borders was meant to curb the movement of people and spread of COVID-19, the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure awarded a tender worth R37 million in emergency procurement processes to fix the notoriously porous border fence between South Africa and Zimbabwe. Not only has Parliament’s public accounts watchdog SCOPA cried foul and launched an investigation, it seems the revamped fence is not serving its purpose and being vandalised as fast as it was built. Carte Blanche travels to Limpopo to inspect matters up close.
Producer: Nicky Troll
Researcher: Laura Byrne
Presenter: Macfarlane Moleli
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Cutting-Edge Tech on the COVID-19 Frontline
While the hunt for safe and effective COVID-19 treatments continues, space-age technologies, including artificial intelligence, are being harnessed for the firepower they could bring to the fight against the pandemic. At one of the world’s most sophisticated research facilities in the United Kingdom, Carte Blanche meets inventors who work with pure light, billions of times brighter than the sun, to produce x-rays that help identify weak spots in the structure of SARS-CoV-2. By crowdsourcing submissions from scientists around the world, they hope to come up with the building blocks for a new drug that will be able to combat the virus at its weakest point. Could this cutting-edge tech be the ultimate gamechanger?
Producer & Presenter: John Webb
Researcher: Laura Byrne
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Illegal Electricity Connections and the Battleground for Power
Illegally connecting to the power grid isn’t just irresponsible, it’s also downright dangerous. But this hasn’t stopped millions of desperate people living in informal settlements from paying a small fee to so-called Izinyoka to be provided illegal electricity. Around the country, exposed live wires threaten the lives of these residents – just one wrong step could end with someone being electrocuted. Now, as winter sets in, Eskom says it’s taking strain forcing it to cut power in some areas. Carte Blanche heads to the City of eThekwini to examine this decades-long battle against illegal connections.
Producer: Nicky Troll
Presenter: Macfarlane Moleli
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A TRICK OF THE IMAGINATION
A Dangerous Illusion
Illusionists are accustomed to creating clever tricks to fool a captivated audience. So, with a bow and arrow in hand, two South African magicians were simply meant to perform their dangerous new illusion, then walk away to a resounding applause. But then something went horribly wrong, almost killing one of the illusionists. He survived. Now the duo is taking their death-defying act to the world.
Producer: Tarryn Crossman
Presenter: Derek Watts
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Do note: Carte Blanche line-ups are subject to change. Stories can be viewed at www.carteblanche.co.za
