Journalist’s debut crime fiction novel
Jade le Roux
Former journalist, Nathi Olifant, has made his novel debut, inspired by his own reporting and covering of criminal cases, as well as his love for crime fiction.
After an illustrious 17-year journalism career, working for well-known local newspaper publications such as the Public Eye, the Witness (crime reporter and then news editor), the Sunday Sun, the Mercury, the Sunday Times and the Sunday Tribune
(the latter two as a politics correspondent), Olifant is now a government communicator, occasional truck driver, and more recently, a published crime fiction novelist.
The father of four has just published his debut novel Blood, Blades and Bullets,
which draws on his experiences reporting on the Glebelands Flat murders between 2014 and 2016.
“While working at the Sunday Times,
I interviewed a hit man from Glebelands. This opened a whole new outlook to me and I knew I wanted to tell these stories and the atrocities that go with them. However, most crucial for me was to tell a story of how especially the young men from the rural areas get recruited into contract killing.
“The characters were inspired by the conniving taxi bosses and gleaning from many police and court documents, I knew I wanted to tell their story and expose their dark world. Glebelands is a Meccah for hit men. The police and the politicians know this; it’s still beyond me as to why a blind eye is turned rned on this,” Olifant explained. ned.
Ever since his first encounter with James Hadley Chase’s novel, He Won’t Need it Now, in high igh school, Olifant knew he wanted to write a crime novel, but he shelved the e idea for many years, until til March last year when he e read a newspaper article e on the Glebelands hit men en and all the ideas surfaced d afresh.
“After that, I couldn’t t delay it any further. I remember posting a chapter on Facebook and in two hours I had near 200 comments from people asking when I was publishing the book, with others demanding to hear more of the story. It was exciting. Novelist Dudu BusaniDube called me and said ‘Damn you.You are writing that book,’” recalled Olifant. He added that Busani-Dube actually ended up writing the foreword for the novel.
Olifant said it was a different experience diverging from his journalistic background and writing a novel, but he knew he couldn’t do it justice as a news story. At the same time however, he leant heavily on journalistic influences to tell this story that “people hardly hear or talk about.”
“I realised that I n needed research and I needed to speak to dozens of people to whom the subject ma matters most. That inc included police, a prisone oner at Waterval Prison, lawy lawyers, taxi operators and work with troves of do document to give the authe authenticity of a crime novel novel. I hope people will be enligh enlightened and glean some lesson lessons on the working of this ind industry and how police someti sometimes benefit from the horrors of Glebelands,” said Olifant.
He said it feels great to finally be sharing his literary offering with the world. “It’s a feat everyone should experience. The reception had been tremendous. For me, it’s a real labour of love.”
Published by Inkabi Publishing, Blood Blades and Bullets will be available online via TakeAlot, from book stores, or directly from the author at R200. The official release date is Tuesday, December 15, but the official launch is set for February next year.
Olifant, who is already busy working on a sequel, said he has been so encouraged by the response to his book. “The interest in the book is something I never expected.
It has come with a lot of pressure, but I am especially encouraged to see a strong reading culture taking root again amid this digital revolution. People are starting up book clubs again and that is very heartening,” he said.