Carte Blanche to honour GBV victims with 90-minute special

This week’s episode of Carte Blanche will be a 90-minute special that concludes Women’s Month as the show commemorates women who have been victims of gender-based violence during the coronavirus pandemic.

The show will pay tribute to every woman who has suffered under what President Cyril Ramaphosa labelled “the second epidemic” – gender-based violence (GBV) – especially under lockdown.

The upcoming episode on Sunday, 23 August 2020, celebrates both women and men who fight for justice. Here’s what you can expect:

The Second Epidemic

A Protection Order or a Useless Document?

Imagine having to spend your life running, changing jobs and cities every few months just to get away from your abuser – despite having a court-issued protection order.

A protection order is meant to be a survivor’s first line of defence to prevent the recurrence of domestic violence or sexual harassment. It’s a warning for abusers to stay far away or there will be consequences.

But victims say it isn’t worth the paper it’s written on and doesn’t do much to deter perpetrators. Carte Blanche investigates why police seem powerless to enforce it.

GBV Vault

When a survivor of intimate-partner violence gets the rare opportunity to take on their perpetrator in court, admissible evidence can be the difference between winning or losing.

But evidence, notes and photos of injuries that victims often save on their smartphones can be lost when a perpetrator takes or destroys the device.

Carte Blanche meets the developers of a secure online vault that will allow vital evidence to be safely stored in the cloud and out of reach of the abuser. Could the GBV Vault help secure more convictions?

A Father Fights Back

At just 11 years old, a little girl’s traumatic rape changed her and her father’s life.

Furious that the police seemed powerless to solve the case, he refused to let justice slide and instead launched his own investigation and single-handedly hunted down the perpetrator.

His search led to a startling discovery – his child’s rapist was a serial offender who’d been terrorising his community for years.

Carte Blanche meets the man whose efforts ensured that a serial rapist ended up behind bars for life.

https://youtu.be/sNbk2VtSyCI

Covid-19

Dying of Loneliness

Rallying to protect those most at risk from Covid-19, the world placed the elderly on lockdown as it tried to limit the impact of the pandemic.

Even so, with employees entering and leaving old age homes, the coronavirus made its way into these facilities. But families and friends were barred from entering.

Carte Blanche investigates how the pain of separation from loved ones has eroded morale and condemned some to a lonely death.

Quest

Sweet Harvest

In November last year, Carte Blanche exposed how internecine violence had brought the multimillion-rand Sun Valley citrus estate in KwaZulu-Natal close to a standstill.

Investors had fled and workers were in danger as 40 people had already been murdered in the area. The farm’s future as the largest employer in the district hung in the balance. But nine months later, a most unlikely miracle is taking shape.

Peace has returned and, with the commitment from a local beef farmer, a businessman and 120 workers who worked together for months without being paid, the sun is rising again over the farm. Carte Blanche returned to the valley to bring a story of hope against incredible odds.

Inside the wreckage of the Santa Maria

The Santa Maria Madre de Deus was a Portuguese ship which disappeared without a trace in 1643 somewhere off the Eastern Cape coastline until two curious spearfishermen stumbled on an old wreckage site that archaeologists now believe could belong to the sunken vessel.

Now the treasure trove of relics that lay undiscovered for 377 years on the seabed could solve the long-standing mystery behind the demise of the Santa Maria.

Carte Blanche headed to East London for an exclusive first-look at the historical treasures revealing the remnants of this long-lost ship.

https://youtu.be/HV4pBULjTWw

Carte Blanche airs Sundays at 7pm on M-Net (DStv channel 101)

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