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December 18, 2007	For Special Assignment, 2007 was a year of achievement and change.In this highlights package, we look at the stories that made a difference to the lives of ordinary people, the exposés that set the news agenda and those that gave a voice to the voiceless. - More
December 11, 2007	The war of words between the SABC and the print media, which erupted after the Sunday Times’ controversial reporting on the Health Minister earlier this year, has once again raised issues about the role of journalists in a new democracy. This Tuesday, Special Assignment focuses on the print media in South Africa, questions its diversity and examines the concept of developmental journalism. . - More
December 04, 2007	South Africa has the highest number of HIV infections in the world, according to a report released last week by UNAids. But how bad is the situation really? And why does it seem that so many people fail to hear the safe sex message and change their behaviour? . - More
November 27, 2007	To mark World AIDS Day, Special Assignment broadcasts the story of a remarkable young woman Thembi Ngubane, who is HIV+. - More
November 06, 2007	This Tuesday, the government’s people-first campaign “Batho Pele”, is given a real boost in Limpopo, with the opening of a state of the art kidney unit. - More
October 30, 2007	Atlantis in the Western Cape … a town that once seemed lost but now is slowly finding itself again… About 50 km from Cape Town, past Koeberg’s towering Nuclear Power Station is a turnoff, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. It heads towards a town called Atlantis - a place many call “the lost city” – like the mythical continent after which it was named. - More
October 23, 2007	This Tuesday Special Assignment tells the story of human beings bought and sold and tricked into slavery. A story about crime where victims are deceived, shipped far from safety and exploited. It’s the personal tragedy behind the crime of human trafficking in Southern Africa. - More
October 16, 2007	There are more than two BILLION mobile phone users worldwide. Whether or not they are safe, is still the subject of much debate. Last week, an international symposium was held in Johannesburg, focusing on the effects of radiation from cell phones. This Tuesday, Special Assignment speaks to South Africans who believe their health has been seriously affected by cellular technology. Johannesburg pastor Ronald Robinson died from a brain tumour last year. His mobile phone, says his widow Ann, was like an extension of his arm. “He was on the phone a lot. He spoke to people all day long, even when overseas, travelling.” - More
October 09, 2007	Thousands of babies are being abandoned in South Africa every year. In some cases, mothers take a conscious decision to get rid of them, in others children find themselves left to fend for themselves after both parents have died. - More
October 02, 2007	“I was struck by tragedy…but Special Assignment ensured that I got my money back…without them I wouldn’t have managed.” Praise from pensioner Albert Motswagae, who was abducted after leaving a bank in Zeerust. He featured on Special Assignment in August telling of how he woke up in hospital with a broken back and his life-savings, R75-thousand, missing from his bank account.. - More
September 25, 2007	This Tuesday Special Assignment travels to the Ufafa valley near Ixopo in the southern KwaZulu-Natal midlands, where they come face to face with children suffering from malnutrition and HIV/Aids. - More
September 18, 2007	South Africa has one of the highest rates of violent crime in the world, a lot of which is concentrated in Gauteng. Here, armed robberies have spilled over from the ghettoes and informal settlements into the more affluent suburbs. Despite sophisticated security measures, house attacks have increased dramatically. - More
September 04, 2007	This Tuesday Special Assignment looks at how global warming will affect South Africa. The most recent predictions show that Africa will be the continent most severely affected by climate change and that South Africa will have a unique set of problems to contend with. Some parts of the country will become colder and wetter while others will become hotter and drier. - More
August 28, 2007	There are two major axioms among many of the struggling communities living on the Cape Flats: get rich and/or get out. But acquiring wealth in impoverished communities often entails joining the ranks of the reigning gangs. - More
August 21, 2007	As it becomes more and more difficult to pull off successful bank robberies and cash-in-transit heists, criminals are becoming increasingly innovative in their methods. So-called “client robbers” are getting away with thousands from unsuspecting customers, who are followed and robbed after leaving banks. This Tuesday, Special Assignment interviews victims of these seemingly low-profile crimes and speaks to security experts and even the robbers themselves. - More
August 14, 2007	This Tuesday Special Assignment tells the story of an Mpumalanga boy who is facing rape charges after he and his young friend allegedly raped a 4-year-old girl. But the boy alleges he was merely following orders from elders at the time of the incident. Rape and kill a girl, he says, formed part of manhood lessons at the initiation school he attended. To make matters worse, he was only ten when he was allegedly abducted and taken to the school. - More
August 7, 2007	This Tuesday Special Assignment uncovers corruption at the Pretoria Correctional Centre for awaiting trial detainees. After a six week 9nvestigation, with assistance from a former awaiting trial detainee, the team managed to capture several officials on hidden camera, accepting bribes in exchange for carrying drugs and alcohol into prison. All transactions took place in broad daylight, close to the Centre. - More
July 31, 2007	Our health system is in crisis. While public hospitals can’t keep up with demand, our private health care is amongst the best in the world. But it is out of reach for most people. Only one in six South Africans are on medical aid, and of these, many are older citizens. Most youngsters simply can’t afford the high monthly premiums.- More
July 24, 2007	This Tuesday Special Assignment takes viewers on an extraordinary journey through the West African country of Mali in search of the fabled Timbuktu Manuscripts, said to be one of the most valuable collections of ancient scripts in the world. - More
July 17, 2007	A recent drama on SABC TV explored the lives of men who have sex with men, while purporting to lead “straight” lives, the so-called “after-niners”. Many male sex workers fall into this category. Despite the fact that most of their clients are male, many rent boys separate their livelihood from their sexual identity. They belong to the subculture of “after-niners”, also known as MSM or M2M. The acronyms refer to a little-known but increasingly widespread phenomenon, of men who have sex with men but who do not identify with a gay lifestyle. - More
July 10, 2007	When children are arrested for a crime they are often remanded to prisons or so-called places of safety, to wait for their day in court.In the past these facilities were all run by the state and their traditional image has been one of over-crowding, neglect and abuse. These are places where children are not safe from each other and where, instead of rehabilitation, they in fact learnt the finer arts of the criminal underworld.”. - More
July 03, 2007	The clash between spiritual belief and science has been in the spotlight recently with the alleged sightings of the Virgin Mary by an East Rand teenager. On Tuesday, Special Assignment looks at the African belief in the power of “udosi lwempisi” or hyena’s tail, said to be used to put people to sleep during robberies. “It’s not a belief, it’s real”, says traditional healer Elvis Mavungha. “You take hyena’s tail and bones and you light it and make people go to sleep, because immediately they smell it…they won’t wake up”. - More
June 26, 2007	This Tuesday Special Assignment teams up with Home Affairs investigators as they track down a syndicate involved in organising fraudulent marriages and human trafficking. The investigation leads us to Pretoria and exposes a sophisticated ring of conspirators, including home affairs officials and foreign nationals. - More
June 19, 2007	Last month Dina Rodrigues and the four men she hired to murder six-month-old Jordan Leigh Norton were found guilty as charged. All that awaits them now, is the sentencing. But throughout the two year trial much of the attention has been focused on Dina Rodrigues, the beautiful white woman who masterminded the first contract killing of a baby anywhere in the world. But what of the men she hired? What drove men like these to murder? - More
June 12, 2007	Our national health department’s vision is that of a caring and human society where all South Africans have access to affordable and good quality health care. The reality is we have a long way to go to reach that goal. This week Special Assignment visits two provinces that are severely affected by poor service delivery in the health care sector. We discover that while Limpopo is battling bureaucracy and a shortage of medical staff, Mpumalanga struggles with poor infrastructure and health workers who disregard patients’ rights. - More
June 05, 2007	Special Assignment is proud to present an investigation into conflict diamonds by acclaimed journalist Sorious Samura. Armed with a secret camera, Sorious follows the trail of illegally-acquired diamonds from the mines in Sierra Leone, across the border into Guinea. There are no controls whatsoever on this smuggling route, and once in Guinea Sorious manages to buy and sell stones, no questions asked. The trail then leads to the DRC, where illicit diamond digging takes place in many remote areas. There men live and die for diamonds. - More
May 29, 2007	This Tuesday, Special Assignment looks at the global problem of alcohol abuse and specifically how it affects the crime rate in South Africa . According to the World Health Organization, we have the dubious distinction of having one of the highest levels of alcohol consumption per drinker in the world. We also have one of the highest crime rates in the world and one of the highest road accidents rates in the world. The connections cannot be ignored. - More
May 22, 2007	South Africa is facing a massive skills shortage and the situation is only getting worse. While we currently lack at least half a million skilled and semi-skilled workers, red tape and bungling in the Department of Home Affairs choke the country’s ability to benefit from foreign expertise. - More
May 15, 2007	South Africa is facing a drug abuse epidemic. Last year a bumper crop of opium was harvested in Afghanistan, and experts say some of it has hit our streets in the form of heroin. According to the 2006 United Nation Drug Report, countries and cities on the main world drug routes are the worst affected. Witbank in Mpumalanga is one of them. - More
May 08, 2007	This Tuesday we broadcast part two of our investigation into the plight of illegal Zimbabwean immigrants as they cross the Limpopo River into South Africa. We once again follow Godknows Nare, a Zimbabwean filmmaker who lives in South Africa . Godknows meets up with 17-year-old Brenda Ncube from Bulawayo who “jumped” the border with a group of fifty illegal immigrants. She is now travelling south to Joburg. - More
May 01, 2007	Land reform is one of the most sensitive issues of our time. Yet increasingly the landed and landless, black and white, are directing their anger at the government for failing to settle claims. Land policies that look good on paper, are being stymied through inefficiency and bungling. In parts of the country, tempers are being inflamed. - More
Apr 24, 2007	This coming Tuesday, Special Assignment looks back at a story broadcast two years ago, in which promises were made and expectations raised. - More
Mar 06, 2007	Special Assignment brings you TAYLOR VERSUS JOHNSON, an exclusive report on Africa’s first female president and her efforts to bring hope and optimism to one of the world’s poorest and least developed countries. - More
Feb 27, 2007	This Tuesday we bring you exclusive footage of a 40km journey with a group of illegal Zimbabwean immigrants as they cross the Limpopo River into South Africa. In what we believe is a world first, we speak to the human traffickers who guide these desperate people and witness an attack by armed bandits. - More
Feb 20, 2007	Chronic kidney failure is not much talked about in this country, yet the number of sufferers, especially blacks, keeps growing. Worryingly, there’s a perception in the townships and rural areas that kidney failure is a white man’s disease. - More
Feb 13, 2007	Special Assignment looks back at a story broadcast two years ago, in which promises were made and expectations raised. - More
Feb 06, 2007	No broadcast due to the Survivor final episode.
Jan 30, 2007	Somerset-West, Strand, Gordons Bay, Sir Lowrys Pass, Macasser. These are the towns that make up the Helderberg basin in the Western Cape. Surrounded by soaring mountains and hugged by False Bay, it is known for its natural beauty. But beneath the surface lies a terrible truth. - More
Jan 23, 2007	Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, once hailed as a great liberation hero, has become Africa’s longest standing dictator. - More
Jan 16, 2007	Brutal killings and the harvesting of body parts for muti have communities living in fear of an enemy living in their midst. This Tuesday Special Assignment takes viewers to the hills around Thohoyandou in the heart of the Limpopo province where many residents have been found butchered and their body parts removed. - More