Coming up on
Carte Blanche this Sunday 23 February 2025:
Smart Swipes
South Africans have an addiction, and we don’t even know it. In just about every wallet and on every phone sit dozens of shopping rewards cards - from Checkers Xtra Savings to Clicks ClubCard, Dis-Chem Benefits to Woolworths WRewards and Pick n Pay Smart Shopper.
These loyalty programmes have become a currency of their own as points, cashback and discounts offer a form of financial relief in South Africa’s tough economy.
But while consumers chase rewards to stretch their rands, believing they're getting the better end of the deal, there’s a trade-off.
Loyalty programmes are a massive business built on our data - and most of us don’t even think about it.
South Africans love loyalty programmes, but are they really helping us save, or are we just playing into the game exactly as companies planned?
Producer: Floris Kotze
Presenter: Claire Mawisa
Clear and Present Danger
In South Africa, stories of sexual predators operating inside schools regularly grab headlines. With the trust that parents place in teachers to look after their children, it might be expected that teachers are properly vetted before they are employed.
But it appears that criminal background checks for incoming teachers have, for years, been a blind spot for provincial education departments across the country.
In 2023, the Department of Basic Education spearheaded a drive to "vet" almost half a million teachers and support staff working in South African public schools.
Two years later, very little progress has been made, and it’s almost certain that convicted sex offender teachers have continued to hide in plain sight.
One teacher raped a 12-year-old girl at a farm school in the rural Western Cape in 2011. Years later, the survivor tells Carte Blanche her life is still in ruins.
Will her appeal to the Department fall on deaf ears?
Producer: Daneel Knoetze
Presenter: Claire Mawisa
Transnet’s Trip-Up
In December 2023, Transnet announced that it had bought seven second-hand Rubber Tyre Gantries (RTGs).
These large, mobile cranes are vital machinery that help load and unload shipping containers in port, and the purchase promised to ease equipment failures and delays in Cape Town's Port Terminal.
But one RTG was non-operational on arrival and, within two years, most of the others were experiencing running breakdowns almost every week.
Meanwhile, Transnet’s inefficiencies and equipment failures have caused prolonged delays which have had a severe impact on the shipping industry, and stakeholders are furious.
Producer: Nicky Troll
Presenter: Govan Whittles
Premiere episodes of Carte Blanche air on M-Net on Sundays at 19h00 and are on Catch Up afterwards.