‘Carte Blanche’ stars expose SA’s dark side
PRESENTER Claire Mawisa has been one of the faces of M-Net’s prime time investigative TV show, Carte Blanche, for over eight years.
The former Simunye TV presenter says the show has grown close to her heart through the myriad stories and issues it tackles.
Carte Blanche, which celebrates 34 years since its debut on August 21, 1988, has become synonymous with exposing corruption, consumer issues, and current events.
The show has some well-known presenters and reporters, including Macfarlane Moleli, Masa Kekana, Erin Bates and Lourensa Eckard.
From human trafficking to spending time on the beach with the fossils, the show delves into a wide range of topics, ensuring South African viewers get a balanced view on issues.
Mawisa commented: “For anyone to join Carte Blanche is a great honour due to the legacy of the show. I do not take this honour for granted and for me being part of the show for eight years has been amazing. There have been some great people who have come before us and they have set the standard high. South Africans rely on the stories we tell and in everything we do, we try to do the best we can.”
Co-presenter Gavin Whittles, speaking of one of the investigative stories he’d tackled, told The Star that human trafficking had become a big problem for South Africa.
“It’s bad out there, man. Human trafficking has become worse in South Africa. I got upset while doing the story. Even now I am upset. I was incredibly upset. We need to do better as a country to tackle the scourge of human trafficking,” he said.
The latest episode tracked the story of a 10-year-old girl who, in November last year, was found during a routine traffic roadblock squashed inside the luggage compartment of a long-distance bus. She had been smuggled from Zimbabwe into South Africa under extreme conditions.
According to the producers of the show, this case was not unusual. In its months-long investigation, Carte Blanche unravelled cross-border human trafficking and the shadowy figures, known as transporters, who made it possible.
The show reveals the extent of this scourge and how undocumented foreign nationals are lured to South Africa from numerous African countries – many of them ending up on the streets of Johannesburg.