Ganging Up

Investigation

Ganging Up

Mitchells Plain, one of the country’s areas worst hit by murder and violence, has been rocked by a renewed spate of senseless gang killings in recent months. Innocent children and bystanders have been gunned down and drive-by shootings and point-blank assassinations have rocked the community.

As we meet bereaved families to count the cost of lives lost and livelihoods destroyed, Carte Blanche asks what has become of the much-feted South African Police Services’ Anti-Gang Unit which was established to take down gangsters and protect communities. With the SANDF now also withdrawn from the Cape Flats, we go on patrol with a new private security company that’s taken it upon itself to make inroads against the gangs.

Producer: Mike Duffett | Presenter: Derek Watts

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Macfarlane Moleli: "The lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of people may have been affected by the selling of fake COVID-19 certificates. Internet cafes are selling these certificates to make a quick buck as many people cannot afford the actual tests. But at what risk? As travel restrictions are still strict in some countries, many are choosing the illegal route just to get out."

False Negative – the COVID-19 Black Market

As travel restrictions remain in place globally for anyone who tests positive for COVID-19, a black market in fake negative test results is flourishing as criminals seek to profit from people’s desperation to resume normal lives amid the pandemic. Carte Blanche investigates a local supplier of fraudulent certificates and examines the consequences for travellers as fake certificates are accepted at various ports of entry – potentially exposing fellow passengers to the dangers of contracting the virus.

Producer: Busisiwe Gumede-Chizhanje | Research: Sinethemba Nogude | Presenter: Macfarlane Moleli

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Courtroom drama

The Power of a Name

Once 35-year-old Eastern Cape attorney Wesley Hayes finally had the courage and resources he felt he needed to raise a child as a single father, he found a fertility clinic that took him through the expensive process of having his sperm fertilise a donor’s eggs and several embryos frozen. It took him six years to find a surrogate to carry his baby. But when Baby J was born, her devoted father stepped into a world of joy and pain. Now, nearly a year after the little girl’s birth, she remains without an official name and identity. The simple formality of registering a name, available to single mothers, has not been available to single fathers. As the Makhanda High Court made a ground-breaking ruling in this case this week, Carte Blanche tracks what his fight signifies for single men with children born via surrogacy.

Producer: Liz Fish | Presenter: Macfarlane Moleli

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Shroom State of Mind

Science is fast developing on the use of psilocybin (commonly referred to as magic mushrooms) in the treatment of anxiety, depression and addictions. But the substance remains banned in South Africa. Facing criminal charges has done little to stem the enthusiasm of a shroom adherent who is now also trying to have the ban on psilocybin lifted in court. We observe her magic mushroom ceremonies that have moved online in response to lockdown, as participants from here and abroad join her in Zoom meetings, ingest psilocybin and are monitored by online observers as they enter a psychedelic state. Carte Blanche investigates how the use of psylocibin has been tested and used.

Producer: Michael Duffett | Presenter: Derek Watts

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