BBC Documentaries

Special forces on trial

Loading player...
South African police detective Frans Mathipa told his boss he feared that he would be killed by the country’s military. Two days later he was found shot dead in his car by the side of a motorway.

At the time of his death, Mathipa had been investigating whether special forces soldiers were behind the disappearance of Abdella Abadigga, a suspected member of so-called Islamic State or ISIS, and his bodyguard. So was Mathipa killed, as his colleagues believe, because of fears about what his investigation threatened to reveal?

Dino Mahtani and Yeshiel Panchia investigate an extraordinary case that sets one arm of the South African state against another.

Presenter: Dino Mahtani
Producer: Ed Main
Executive editors: Nick Norman-Butler and Andy Bell
Editor: Rebecca Henschke
Studio manager: Sam Dickinson

Archive: SABC and Facebook
9 Aug 7PM English United Kingdom Education

Other recent episodes

Big surveillance, Flock and ICE

AI cameras, drones, licence plate readers, sound detection, Flock - the United States is monitored through a growing, high-tech, and increasingly interconnected surveillance network. In some cities, like Houston, Texas, the true extent of this system is a secret. Law enforcement says this is all for public safety - to…
31 Aug 8PM 30 min

Is Turkey's clothing industry unravelling at the seams?

The Made in Turkey label found in so much of our clothing could disappear as the industry faces competition from countries like Egypt. Turkey is battling huge inflation and hundreds of clothing factories are going bankrupt leaving tens of thousands out of work. Emily Wither reports from Istanbul.
30 Aug 8PM 21 min

The price of peace

Colombia is reeling from the False Positive scandal. Incentivised by the government, soldiers abducted and killed over 7,000 innocent civilians, falsely presenting them as guerrilla fighters in an attempt to convince the nation they were winning a bloody civil conflict that had raged for over 50 years. We meet Blanca…
29 Aug 8PM 53 min

Hong Kong's bookstore raids

The spoken languages in Hong Kong and Taiwan differ, with Cantonese being spoken in Hong Kong and Mandarin preferred in Taiwan, but the two territories use traditional Chinese characters for reading and writing. This has created a strong bond between them in the field of book publishing, with many books…
29 Aug 8AM 27 min

We will always love you, Dolly

Flags are at half-mast across the United States following the death of Dolly Parton at the age of 80. Born in poverty in a log cabin in rural Tennessee, she went on to sell more than 100 million records and became one of the most influential figures in country music…
28 Aug 8PM 26 min
All episodes