Gruesome • adj. Causing repulsion or horror, grisly. Informal extremely unpleasant. Origin C16f rom Scottish grue: 'to feel horror, shudder'; of Scandinavian origin.

In this book, investigative journalist De Wet Potgieter follows the trail of a number of criminals in South Africa’s history. These violent crimes, perpetrated from the late 1980s into the new millennium, vary from fanatical far-rightists who killed their innocent countrymen, to assassins who executed high-profile, state-sanctioned murders. He takes the reader behind the scenes of some of the most controversial events in our country and, with his fearless style of writing, pulls you right into the belly of the beast.

In Gruesome, he shares information that has never before been made public. What really happened on the night of 17 June 1992 in Boipatong? What motivated the horrific attack on Alison Botha? What caused the ostensibly conformist policeman André Stander to become an unscrupulous bank robber? Who was the first person to see the connection between Gert van Rooyen’s victims and a probable human-trafficking network?

Potgieter relates how, as a journalist, he went about reporting on each of these cases. This book takes you back to the bloody newspaper headlines of yesterday.

Grusaam b.nw. veroorsaak afsku, walging; afgryslik. Informeel geweldig onaangenaam. Oorsprong 16de eeu van die Skotse grue: Om afgryse te voel; sidder, van Skandinawiese oorsprong. In hierdie boek loop die ondersoekende joernalis De Wet Potgieter terug op die spore van 'n klomp geweldenaars in Suid-Afrika se geskiedenis. Die geweldsmisdade, wat van die laat tagtigerjare tot in die nuwe millennium gepleeg is, wissel van fanatiese verregses wat medeburgers koelbloedig afmaai, tot geweldenaars wat hoeprofiel-staatsmoorde gepleeg het. Hy neem die leser tot agter die skerms van die mees omstrede voorvalle in ons land. Met sy onverskrokke skryfstyl trek Potgieter jou midde-in die sake in. In Grusaam deel hy inligting wat nog nie voorheen openbaar gemaak is nie. Wat het werklik die nag van 17 Junie 1992 in Boipatong gebeur? Wat was die dryfkrag agter die gru-aanval op Alison Botha? Wat het van die doodgewone polisieman Andre Stander 'n gewetenlose bankrower gemaak? Wie het eerste die verband tussen Gert van Rooyen se slagoffers en 'n moontlike mensehandelsaak raakgesien? Potgieter vertel hoe hy as joernalis te werk gegaan het om verslag te doen oor elk van die grusame sake. Hierdie boek neem jou terug na die bloedige koerant-opskrifte van gister.

When De Wet Potgieter wrote in the Daily Maverick that Al Qaeda was operating within borders of South Africa, there were howls of protest, he was forced to write a retraction and was fired. After the Westgate terror attack in Nairobi, in the aftermath of which South Africa was named as a conduit country for Al Shabaab, who claimed responsibility, media from all around world suddenly wanted interviews with De Wet. The fact is that compelling evidence points to Al Qaeda being here, and his book will show where they might be operating (on a farm, known to the local people, and photographed) and most importantly how and why.

It will show the unwillingness of Government to act on their own intelligence, and how our porous borders and corruption ridden state machinery make this country the ideal entry point for terrorism. Based on two years' investigations and numerous interviews, this book will give details of the secluded farm and surveillance of it, showing the involvement of the secret Muslim paramilitary organisation called the Fordsburg Group; expose the workings of the Pakistani Mafia in South Africa and how their members were never prosecuted after being arrested here; the payment of millions in state funds to a terrorist organisation for security during the 2010 World Cup; more money changing hands; and the rendition of Pakistani national from South Africa.

The South African passport of the so called "White Widow" implicated in the terrorist attack has been documented. This book also tells of a South African woman called the "Black Widow" with ties to both the right wing and Muslim extremists.