Eye Investigations Season 4, Episode 29: A City Held Hostage: Johannesburg

1

Our Land, Our Life

The daughter of Kenya’s anti-colonial insurgency leader, Dedan Kimathi, searches for her father’s remains while fighting for land rights for forgotten veterans.

49 min

2

Targeted: Lebanon's Deadliest Attack

On a quiet Sunday, an Israeli airstrike destroyed a residential building in Lebanon, killing 73 people. Nawal Al-Maghafi investigates who they were and why the building was hit.

28 min

3

Child Soldiers: The Untold Story of Iran-Iraq’s Frontline Children

Child Soldiers: The Untold Story of Iran-Iraq’s Frontline Children

52 min

4

Saudi and Trans: Eden's Final Message

After a Saudi trans woman's death went viral, BBC Eye investigates the final months of her life and the claim that she was misled into returning to Saudi Arabia from the US.

31 min

5

India's Opioid Kings

For more than a decade, West Africa has been in the grip of an opioid crisis. But who’s making these illegal, addictive pills? BBC World Service goes undercover to find out.

49 min

6

Liked, Lured, Livestreamed

On TikTok live streams, girls as young as 15 are selling sexual content. BBC Africa Eye investigates to find out who is profiting.

23 min

7

Trouble Makers: Drugged, Framed and Detained

Investigation into Chinese police use of psychiatric hospitals to silence critics, hearing from people who dared protest only to be drugged and labelled mentally ill.

50 min

8

Stranded: Exposing the UK’s immigration scammers

BBC Africa Eye goes undercover to track down rogue relocation agents who squeeze thousands of pounds from aspiring migrants with the false promise of a job in the UK.

48 min

9

Inside Darfur: Siege & Massacres

With unprecedented access inside Darfur, BBC World Service investigates allegations of genocide carried out by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in Sudan’s civil war.

50 min

10

Make Me Perfect: Manufacturing Beauty in China

China’s cosmetic surgery industry is booming - but the surge in demand has led to a shortage of qualified practitioners and licensed clinics.

59 min

11

Turkey's Hidden War: The Forbidden Zone

This film reveals Turkey’s military expansion in northern Iraq. Its campaign against the militant PKK group has killed Iraqi Kurdish civilians and forced farmers off their land.

51 min

12

Rise of the Patriots

In Hong Kong’s new “patriots-only” era, anonymous informing is now the norm. BBC Eye investigates how the security law reshaped the city after mass calls for democracy.

29 min

13

Blood Parliament

In 2024, a protest at Kenya’s legislature was ended by the gunfire of security forces. To this day, those shooters’ faces have remained hidden. BBC World Service exposes the men responsible.

37 min

14

The Land That Bleeds

Cameroonian journalist Blaise Eyong exposes the violent realities of the Anglophone Crisis —a conflict that has gripped the country's two English-speaking regions for nearly a decade.

28 min

15

Iran: Murder for Hire

Eye Investigations examines evidence of targeted abductions and assassinations by the Iranian regime abroad, and the links to one man – Iranian organised crime boss Naji Sharfi Zindashti.

31 min

16

Informers: Hunting the Enemy Within

Russia’s citizen informers target critics of the war in Ukraine. They work in secret or in public. Their victims face prosecution, creating an atmosphere of fear.

22 min

17

The Killing Call

Three years after Sidhu Moose Wala was killed, BBC Eye investigates the murder that shocked India - and asks how he ended up on the wrong side of the country’s most feared gang.

88 min

18

The Battle for Bangladesh

BBC Eye investigates the popular uprising that led to the downfall of Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on August 5 2024, when 36 days of protest ended in bloodshed.

36 min

19

Inside Cape Town’s Gang Wars

In just three months last year, 79 children died through gunshot wounds or stabbings on SA's Western Cape. Police reported 263 gang murders. Africa Eye investigates Cape Town gang violence.

28 min

20

Madams: Exposing Kenya's Child Sex Trade

Africa Eye uncovers child sex trafficking in Kenya’s transit town Maai Mahiu and follows one woman, 'Baby Girl', who rescues girls from abuse and exploitation.

27 min

21

The Mystery of Musa al-Sadr

In August 1978, Musa al-Sadr, the Lebanese Shia leader, vanished during a visit to Libya. BBC Eye presents significant new evidence that may hold the clue to the cleric's fate.

53 min

22

Meow Meow: Russia’s Mephedrone Teen Crisis

Inside Russia’s teenage mephedrone market : BBC Eye meets the addicts, dealers, smugglers and police battling the brutal synthetic drug market.

36 min

23

Syria’s Stolen Children

How hundreds of children were held in global donation-supported orphanages by the sanctioned Assad regime in order to extort their relatives and why many have never been found.

51 min

24

Kharkiv War Diaries

Over the past year, BBC Eye Investigations has collected video diaries documenting the lives of some of the people who chose to stay in the city, capturing the deeply personal moments of those on the front line as President Trump's stance on the war in Ukraine shifts.

29 min

25

Death in Dubai

When the mysterious death of a 23-year-old Ugandan in Dubai goes viral, she becomes the face of the disturbing #DubaiPortaPotty. Behind the rumours lies an even darker reality.

65 min

26

Rigged: Undercover in a Fake News Network

BBC Eye goes undercover in a fake news network spreading propaganda in Moldova.

30 min

27

Shadow Healers: South Africa's Psychedelic Journey

Africa Eye investigates South Africa’s underground psychedelic therapy industry, where the pursuit of healing can have devastating consequences.

27 min

28

Blood in the Earth

In the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a miner digs for his dreams hoping the “grey gold” of coltan, used in much of today’s electronics, can bring his family back together.

52 min

29

A City Held Hostage: Johannesburg

Before November's upcoming G20 summit in Johannesburg, Africa Eye reporter Ayanda Charlie investigates the city's abandoned and hijacked buildings.

27 min

30

No Justice, Just Kills

Featuring behind the scenes footage of the criminal investigation and firsthand testimony from survivors, “No Justice, Just Kills” investigates the flawed prosecution of US marines implicated in the 2005 killing of women and children in Haditha, Iraq. Two decades later, two survivors try to find out who was responsible for their families’ deaths, and why those who pulled the trigger walked free.

67 min

31

Money Rituals: Africa’s Deadliest Taboo

Sierra Leone’s hidden ritual market, where criminals posing as healers claim they can supply human body parts, while traditional healers and police fight to stop the trade.

45 min

32

When Water Burns: The Fight for Georgia

BBC Eye uncovers evidence suggesting Georgian police used water cannons laced with a chemical weapon against protesters last year.

60 min

33

White Asylum: America's South African Refugees

In February 2025, Trump offered Afrikaner farmers refugee status, citing “genocide” in South Africa. Claire Mawisa visits Free State to probe the claims and meet families seeking a new life.

52 min

34

The Schools that Break Children

A BBC Eye investigation into Chinese disciplinary schools found that they collude with parents to abduct troubled teens, forcing them into military-style regimes to ‘fix’ them at a devastating cost.

33 min

35

The Child Cancer Scam

BBC Eye exposes a global scam network claiming to raise millions for children with cancer in war zones and deprived areas, but funds never reach them, leaving some without potentially lifesaving care.

61 min

36

Born in Bethlehem

This film follows staff and expectant mothers through a year at the Holy Family Hospital, Bethlehem, which serves all women regardless of religion or ethnicity.

52 min