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On Special Assignment in 2004 |
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Nov 30, 2004 |
Operation Priscilla - In
the final programme of the year, Special Assignment
penetrates a countrywide child sex syndicate run by Nigerians.
We show you how they abuse girls as young as 10, how they force
drugs on them to enslave them and how they use rape to keep them
in line. - More |
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Nov 23, 2004 |
There will be
no Special Assignment on November 23 due to an extended
screening of the "Survivor" series. |
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Nov 16, 2004 |
Can condoms
kill? - Hardliners in
the Catholic Church say condoms have holes in them and that they
fail to protect against HIV. Is there any truth in their claim,
or are they wilfully endangering lives in the name of outdated
religious doctrine?
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Nov 9, 2004 |
Flight of the Tawny Eagle -
We interview a
notorious Nigerian drug dealer by the name of China. According
to the police, China runs a large syndicate in the Point area
and helps with the training of new recruits from Nigeria. -
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Nov 2, 2004 |
Art of Survivial - We look at life in one of South Africa’s maximum security prisons.
The team was given extraordinary access to some of the country’s
most dangerous prisoners, men who have little hope for the
future and even less concern for the lives of those around them.
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Oct 26, 2004 |
Thugby -
On Saturday afternoons, certain rugby clubs in the Western Cape
resemble a war zone. Fights break out on and off the field, with
players not only getting injured, but referees and spectators as
well. Special Assignment investigates the growing phenomenon of
rugby violence. - More
Broadcast script |
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Oct 19, 2004 |
Mainline - Due to popular
demand, Special Assignment will re-screen the award-winning
documentary “Mainline”. Last week SABC3’s Jacques Pauw
walked off with the Vodacom Journalist of the Year Award 2004
for his investigation into drug running in southern and east
Africa. - More
Broadcast
script |
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Oct 12, 2004 |
Blood Rites
- We look into the current spate of murders and
kidnappings on the Cape Flats. Families are living in fear
because of many recent killings and abductions. It seems
that powerful prison gangs are expanding their turf outside the
prison walls, leaving behind a trail of corpses. -
More
Broadcast script |
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Oct 5, 2004 |
Home under fire -
Fake IDs, fake passports and fake
marriage certificates. Just some of the papers you can allegedly
buy from crooked officials in the Department of Home Affairs. -
More |
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Sep 28, 2004 |
Bad Girls, Bad Cops - In an
extraordinary exposè, we unmask corrupt cops who are on the
take. We show you how they exploit sex workers and their clients
to get money from them. We reveal how they harass these women
for sex, exploiting their lack of knowledge of the law. -
More |
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Sep 21, 2004 |
Business of War - In our first feature we travel to war-torn Iraq for an exclusive take on why South Africans are risking death to work in the troubled Gulf state. Since the war was officially declared over in May last year, six South Africans have been killed and another four injured. More than one hundred civilians die every day.
- More |
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Sep 14, 2004 |
Below the Rainbow
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Special Assignment takes a street-eye view of some of the perils faced by Cape Town's street kids - many of whom live there through no fault of their own. -
More
Broadcast Script |
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Sep 7, 2004 |
The World According to Bush - This documentary
provides insight into why the actions of the Bush administration
are often viewed with hostility outside
America. Proud liberal values have been flagrantly ignored by
Bush insiders in pursuit of their hard-line agenda. -
More |
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Aug 31, 2004 |
Lessons Learnt - the Ruyterwacht
Story - In the white suburb of
Ruyterwacht residents were horrified at the prospect of black
kids being bussed into their neighbourhood. They armed themselves
with sticks and sjamboks to prevent the more than four thousand
children from Khayelitsha, from occupying an empty school
building. - More
Broadcast
Script |
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Aug 24, 2004 |
Charmaine's
Story - We bring you the extraordinary story of
South Africa’s own “Bonny” – multiple killer Charmaine Phillips.
She was
released on parole from the Kroonstad medium security prison at
midnight on Thursday. - More
Broadcast Script |
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Aug 17, 2004 |
Gun-running expose - We expose a
network of gunrunners in Mozambique and the Limpopo province
that smuggles illegal guns into South Africa. Our team
travelled to Tshokwe in
Mozambique where we attempted to buy guns from gunrunners. -
More
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Aug 10, 2004 |
Running on Empty -
South Africa is competing in the
Olympic Games for the fourth time since re-admission in
1992.Over the past few weeks, much has been made of the fact
that 12 years on, the team remains unrepresentative of our
society. - More |
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Aug 3, 2004 |
Hell Run - There have been a
spate of brutal attacks on Cape Town’s N2 highway recently.
Motorists whose cars have broken down have been
robbed and assaulted. Pedestrians have been stabbed and left
lying on the side of the road.
- More |
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Jul 27, 2004 |
For a quick buck - Desperate
people straight from the unemployment line are lured into
transporting cocaine and heroine from South America and Asia to
South Africa. All too often they land up behind bars in foreign
lands. - More |
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Jul 20, 2004 |
Revolting Rugby -
Rugby it’s been said, isn’t a matter of life and death to some
people, it’s far more serious than that. In sport-mad South
Africa to some it’s practically a religion. Special
Assignment tackles the growing row between the rugby players
and the administrators –
More |
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Jul 13, 2004 |
Last
Stand - a
glimpse into the heart of a farming community who feel
increasingly under siege. They say the war against them on the
land is intensifying and that none of the promises of help from
the government have materialised. They are now getting ready to
fight back. -
More |
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Jul 6, 2004 |
Gay on the Cape
- Mark and Cengey, a gay couple from Cape Town, have escaped from the coloured ghettos where they were born. They have overcome poverty and a violent upbringing, as well as the objections of their parents and their neighbours to get to their wedding day.
- More |
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Jun 29, 2004 |
Bitter Produce
- On certain farms in the Utrecht area, suspicion and mistrust is growing between white farmers and their black labourers. The stakes are high and the consequences have at times been deadly.
- More |
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Jun 22, 2004 |
"The Boat" -
A Special Assignment team travels into the heart of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Our mission in to attempt one of the most extraordinary journeys in the world: a 1 700 kilometre boat voyage down the Congo River.-
More |
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Jun 15, 2004 |
"Karvelas vs Council" and
"Promises" -
The first story,
entitled “Karvelas vs Council”, tells the story of Alberton
ratepayer Nick Karvelas. He is well-known for his opposition to
the booms and access control measures that characterize many
upmarket Gauteng suburbs.-
More |
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Jun 8, 2004 |
On the Tik-Tik express -
Many young adults and schoolchildren as young as 10 years are in
the grip of a powerful drug called crystal methamphetamine –
known locally as tik. It’s been on the fringes for several years
but it is now catching on fast among the youth of the Western
Cape. - More |
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Jun 1, 2004 |
Complications and closure -
Special Assignment answers the call of three desperate young women. They arrived
on our doorstep with stories of severe complications during their pregnancies or
the birth of their babies. We took up the challenge to try and bring them some
answers… some resolution. - More |
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May 25, 2004 |
Death of a Bushman - The Khomani San
number only a few hundred souls. In the last five years, five of their key
traditionalists have died violently - in murders the police have failed to
solve. - More |
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May 18, 2004 |
Guinea Foul - It’s a murky tale straight out of an espionage thriller. A
small African country… highly trained mercenaries… and a coup plot with
international fingerprints all over it. - More |
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May 11, 2004 |
Prophet and Loss - For weeks Special
Assignment has been investigating allegations of a bizarre cult operating around
a fearsome prophet in a small town in Limpopo Province. What we discovered was a
community split in two, in a charged atmosphere of religious fervour, jealousy,
fear and rumour. - More |
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May 4, 2004 |
No Special
Assignment |
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Apr 27, 2004 |
Ubugebenga - Every day hundreds of South
Africans are persuaded to part with their money by a variety of con artists and
fraudsters. Foreigners are often blamed for some of these scams, but South
Africans are equally adept at making a fast buck in dubious ways. -
More |
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Apr 20, 2004 |
Robbing the Poor . . . - It seems a number of latter-day
Robin Hoods are operating in South Africa. But instead of robbing the rich to
help the poor, they are preying on those with precious little to line their own
pockets. - More |
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Apr 13, 2004 |
The games children
play - What makes youngsters
in South Africa turn to crime? Why are more and more of our youth robbing,
raping and murdering? - More |
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Apr 6, 2004 |
Democracy and the Poorest of the Poor - How have ten years of democracy treated the poorest
of the poor? Do those who can barely afford to feed their families have anything
to celebrate? In the run-up to the elections we try to gauge
the mood of a small community on the outskirts of Cape Town. -
More |
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Mar 30, 2004 |
The Pill and the Potato - We unpack the two
biggest controversies presently engulfing HIV/Aids “management” in South Africa:
the anti-retroviral roll-out programme, and the Minister of Health’s
controversial “garlic and olive oil diet”. - More
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Mar 23, 2004 |
Lessons Abroad -
Many South
African teachers are attracted to London by offers of high pay and the chance to
experience one of the world’s great cities. A great many of them soon find their
starry-eyed enthusiasm dissipating as they realise what a tough place the UK can
be. -
More |
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Mar 16, 2004 |
Payback time - So desperate are people for
somewhere to stay, that they have resorted to “house-jacking” in order to get a
roof over their heads. Special Assignment has uncovered evidence of intimidation
and bribery as the poor vie for accommodation. It seems someone else’s home is
now fair game. - More |
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Mar 9, 2004 |
Death and
Democracy - It’s been 14
years since the last person was hanged in South Africa and nine years since
capital punishment was declared unconstitutional. Yet the issue always
resurfaces at election time because it’s such an emotive one. -
More |
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Mar 2, 2004 |
Unfinished Business - He abducted, maimed and killed.
Two weeks ago he was arrested and charged with the murders he committed almost
twenty years ago. Special Assignment brings you a documentary on former security
policeman Colonel Gideon Nieuwoudt - More |
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Feb 24, 2004 |
West vs West - A special
police unit that was formed two years to combat and fight the growing presence
of Nigerian drug dealers in the city. Although “West” is tasked with combating
the criminal activities of “West African nationals”, in practice their
operations are almost entirely focused on Nigerian syndicates. -
More |
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Feb 17, 2004 |
What's with Bafana Bafana? - In 1996 Bafana Bafana won the African Cup of Nations, a great
moment for our new democracy. Eight years later, the national squad didn’t make
it beyond the first round, utterly humiliated by a rampant Nigerian side.
- More |
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Feb 10, 2004 |
The Park
Royal - Being homeless is no joke - it's a life of hardship and struggle.
How much more if you are in the autumn of your life, your seventies, and
meant to be enjoying the fruits of a long life. Special Assignment tells
the story of a group of pensioners in "Park Royal", a regal old building in
downtown Johannesburg. - More |
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Feb 3,
2003
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Shitty
City - Once again
we tackle the Joburg Metro Council - this time the
Department of Development Planning. Its vision is of Johannesburg
as an "African World Class City" by the year 2030. But
frustrated developers and town planners have their doubts that this will ever be
achieved. - More
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Jan 27, 2004
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You are what you eat -
Both our stories deal with chemicals - albeit of different kinds. In the first, Special Assignment casts an eye on
the pesticides used in farming. In the second story we meet up with two former
drug addicts and follow their progress after a period in rehab. - More
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Jan 20, 2004
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Meat Matters - Special
Assignment launches its new look for the New Year with an investigation into the
chemicals, drugs and farming practices that produce the food we eat. The results
may turn your stomach. - More
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Special Assignment
2003
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| To order copies of programmes, contact Business Enterprises at: Phone: (011) 714 8066, Fax: (011) 714 8075 or email
page by Steven
Lang
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