CARTE BLANCHE - a platform for extraordinary stories

Since 2022, I have been working for Carte Blanche, on M-Net, DSTV, on a story-to-story basis, producing video journalism for broadcast on their iconic Sunday night show. Below are some of the stories I have produced - this page is still work in progress!

2025

For Carte Blanche: Gwala Ka Jan - a Pollsmoor Production (to be broadcast on 26 October 2025)

(A story about convicts serving time in one of the Cape’s most notorious prisons who write and perform a play to explore the difficulties of dealing with gangs in the South African prison system)

For Carte Blanche: A Refinery sold for a Rand – with a Legacy that will cost Billions (broadcast 28 September 2025)

(An investigation into why the South African government put a broken oil refinery for a rand, and allowed oil giants BP and Shell to walk away)

For Carte Blanche: Massed Marimbas (broadcast 17 August 2025)

( A story about the inspirational Marimba teacher, Kiara Ramklass, who massed more than a thousand school-going marimba players in Cape Town to break the Guinness World record and put our nation’s musical magic on the map.) 

For Carte Blanche: Special Forces in the Dock (Broadcast 13 July 2025)

(A follow-up story to the 2023 insert of the murder of a Hawks detective while he was investigating the mysterious kidnapping of an Ethiopian businessman. In our earlier story we fingered Special Forces soldiers who are now charged with these and other crime, in July 2025. )

For Carte Blanche: Murder in Prison – the death of Quinton Fortuin (Broadcast 1 June 2025)

(An investigation into the suspicious death of a prisoner and gang member in Goodwood Prison) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLdY9-gMSUU

For Carte Blanche: Mayday – Air Traffic Navigations Services in Crisis (Broadcast 27 April 2025)

(An investigation into the crisis at ATNS which puts air flight at risk)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRtfKQqG0gI

For Carte Blanche: Contraception Question (Broadcast 9 March 2025) https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1454689058840892

(An investigation into why so many women who were long-term users of Depo-Provera contraception ended up suffering from Sphenoid Wing Meningiomas for which I won a Regional Vodacom of the Year Award for 2025 in the Features category )

For Carte Blanche: Dodgy Tenders and the Political Influencers (Broadcast 2 February 2025)

(An investigation into how anonymous political influencers were trying to undermine a probe into the IDT)

https://x.com/carteblanchetv/status/1886113440487338412/photo/1

 For Carte Blanche: Crestway High - From Swak to Strength ( broadcast 26 January 2025)

(A story of how a failing school in a gang-infested area turned around it’s fortunes, with the help of the mercurial education hero, Professor Jonathan Jansen)

For Carte Blanche: The Epic African Electrical Motor-bike Trip (broadcast in January 2025 but shot in 2024)

((A story of a band of students led by their visionary professor drive a solar-powered motor-bike from Nairobi to Stellenbosch, roping in a Kenyan motor-cross champion, friends and family while their fans watched their progress on social media - a testament to the power of green energy and human imagination)

2024

For Carte Blanche/M-Net: 30 Years of Democracy – South Africa as our home

(A 52 minute documentary which taps into the question: How do we feel thirty years after the first democratic election about South Africa as our home – canvassing unique South Africans across five provinces, broadcast on the 28th of April 2024) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTtunm6pnug

For Carte Blanche: MK Party -  Fact or Fiction

(An investigation into allegations of electoral fraud by the MK Party)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ukk_NDBbS1w

For Carte Blanche: The Aboriginal Nation

(An investigation into a shadowy whatsapp cult run by an Empress who has claims she is ruler and spiritual leader of the coloured people in South Africa, who she calls the Aboriginal Nation)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq1AsKUqgRQ

For Carte Blanche: ANC Loses its Grip

(The 2024 elections signal the loss of majority power for the ANC)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hGl0moe8QA

For Carte Blanche: The GNU – the beginning

(Shortly after the formation of the GNU, a story describing how the coalition was born out of political need)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq--rWiCL-E

For Carte Blanche: Budget Cuts  - Canary in the Coalmine

(An investigation into how deep budget cuts were causing the loss of frontline public servants, in order to sustain a national budget undermined by a huge public wage bill)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3wlDmQYaLI

For Carte Blanche: Botmaskop Estate. Scar on the Mountain

(An investigation into a controversial luxury housing estate on the edges of Stellenbosch, which appeared to lack a valid environmental assessment permit, as it loses the confidence of locals)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVDI2PT172k

2023

For Carte Blanche:  SANDF Torture Squad https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNWSAkGFR9U

(An investigation into how the murder of a Hawks Investigator was linked back to a group of SANDF soldiers, revealing the rot at the heart of the military)

For Carte Blanche: Cooking the Books https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBMY265-wgo

(An investigation into a rogue accountant who abused the bank accounts of her client, and seemed to get away impunity due to a lack of interest on the side of regulators and the SAPS.)

For Carte Blanche: Taxi Strike  - the aftermath

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXlzcNnRgew

(An assessment of the damage done to Cape Town by the violent taxi strike of the 2022)

For Carte Blanche: Cape Town Taxi Strike

(A quick turnaround story about the violent taxi strike of 2022)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPRQnlI8lJo

For Carte Blanche: Pandering to Putin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTZTUOCr_Q0

(An investigation as to what might happen if the Russian Premier, Vladimir Putin came to South Africa)

For Carte Blanche: Zuma, the outdoor prisoner (Dancing with Putin)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-t8Yz_Hgo0

(A story about how former President Jacob Zuma was released from prison and why)

For Carte Blanche: Bulgarian Mafia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkkspe0oIxQ

(An investigation into the murder of four Bulgarians in Constantia, and the criminal context in which the hit took place)

For Carte Blanche : Scholar Transport Blockade

(An investigation into why taxi associations halted schooling in Khayelitsha for three weeks in a bid to break the scholar transport industry and how they failed.)

2022

For Carte Blanche: The Charl Kinnear Murder https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_eUyBDnzGc

(An investigation into the murder of renowned detective Charl Kinnear, challenging why nobody had yet been brought to book)

For Carte Blanche: Cape Town Transport War

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIEB36Bn4Ck

(An investigation into the tensions brewing between the City of Cape Town and the taxi industry around bylaws)

For Carte Blanche: Phala Phala Mystery

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsUWLgVt-uM

( An investigation to understand why millions of US dollars were found allegedly in the back of the couch on the President’s farm, Phala Phala)