Investigative journalism met real-world crime when radio presenter Masa Kekana joined Carte Blanche to do her first insert as a guest presenter.

The insert focused on Vumacam from Vumatel, a new surveillance system in the Johannesburg CBD, which is a supposed R500 million high-tech solution to rising crime rates in the city.

The flip side sees people concerned about privacy violations, reports Channel24.

In an ironic turn of events, the need for a system like Vumacam was confirmed when the following happened:

Kekana interviewed spokesperson Murray Hunter of the civil rights organisation Right2Know (R2K) on a suburb street corner in Johannesburg with cameraman Thabo Maleswene.

A Vumacam street pole was already erected on the street corner, but no cameras have been installed yet.

“Minutes later,” said Kekana, “our whole crew was robbed at gunpoint. All our equipment was stolen but thankfully no-one was harmed”.

The robbers – two men – were loitering nearby and scouting out the area and the Carte Blanche team until they decided to make their armed attack on the TV crew.

After the ordeal, Carte Blanche returned to the scene of the crime to complete the interview, this time with security guards parked nearby.

You can watch the full insert here, with the description of the incident occurring around the 5:30 mark:

What a way to start your first day on the job.

[source:channel24]