About the book

Hack with a Grenade: An Editor’s Backstories of SA News is a newspaper editor’s perspective on the characters that shape South Africa’s psyche. The author, Gasant Abarder, is a journalist who worked in print, radio and television newsrooms in both Cape Town and Johannesburg for 21 years. Along the way, he encountered homeless people, reformed prison gangsters, struggle heroes, artists and sports personalities. In Hack with a Grenade, Abarder uses the stories of these characters to provide social commentary on issues like religion, prejudice and injustice – all with a healthy dose of humour. It is a book about journalism but also about South African life. It is also a social commentary that begins to strip away our prejudices as South Africans and to shine a light on our common humanity. 

About the author

Gasant Abarder, is a journalist who worked in print, radio and television newsrooms in both Cape Town and Johannesburg for 21 years. The latter decade of his working career was spent in senior editorial roles – including as deputy editor of the Daily Voice, editor of the Cape Argus for two stints, editor of Eyewitness News in Cape Town and editor of the Cape Times. 

The author was featured in the 2013 edition of the Mail & Guardian’s prestigious Young South Africans 2013, has previously served as the deputy chairperson of the South African National Editors’ Forum and was a weekly columnist for the Weekend Argus. He is currently employed as the Media, Marketing and Communications manager for the University of the Western Cape and lives in Cape Town with his wife and children. This is his first book. His life’s ambition is to become a Chicken Licken brand ambassador.

Contents

Foreword

Preface

Introduction 

Chapter 1: Remona finds Jesus in her toilet

Chapter 2: Danny and the invisible people

Chapter 3: Magadien Wentzel’s quest for redemption

Chapter 4: Missing

Chapter 5:Gentrification

Central image section

Chapter 6: The Fees Must Fall special edition

Chapter 7: Injustice

Chapter 8: Trailblazers

Chapter 9: the Forgotten Heroes

Chapter 10: Coloured or too coy to be Khoi?

Notes about the author

Index