Durban men’s hostels are a relic of the apartheid government used as settlements formery for migrant workers. Over the years they have morphed into dangerous territory where killing, extortion and allied crimes thrive. A local research paper by the Germany-based Global Initiative Against Organised Crime suggests that between March 2014 and January 2019, more than 120 people died as a result of violence perpetrated by hitmen based at Glebelands Hostel in Umlazi, a former ‘township’ in south Durban. The killings have bled beyond the hostel, throughout KZN and even into neighbouring provinces. This is a staggering statistic for a community of around 22 000 people living in a housing complex that covers less than two square kilometres. The paper further reveals that one of Durban’s largest hostel complexes, Glebelands consists of 71 blocks. Accommodation varies from large, very old, dilapidated blocks, to the much smaller, newer family units. Crime is well-embedded here and it is often reported as fact that police and politicians alike also benefit with contract killers and the abundance of hitmen often hired from the bloody hostel. Hitmen are groomed from an early age especially by those in the taxi industry.

Blood, Blades and Bullets follows the story of Mazwi Nxumalo, a naïve school dropout teenager from rural Nongoma who is unwittingly recruited into the dark world of Glebelands hostel hitmen. Coming from a poverty-stricken family, the odds are stacked against him. He is also running away from a mysterious man and his goons that he busted executing a man in a local forest. After getting in tune with the ways of the Durban taxi ranks and industry, he is soon trained in shooting, surprisingly by rogue cop friends of his handler, Zenzele. He returns one more time to Nongoma where, in a rage, kills his friend, former schoolmate and striking partner in the local football team after learning he had impregnated his high school sweetheart.

Angry at his protégé and fearing that he would soon be out of control, Zenzele decides it’s time for the traditional cleansing and strengthening ceremony, ukuthwala. Mazwi emerges almost invincible from this ritual and rite of passage to become an unstoppable but flawed killing machine. As the bodies pile up, including of those cops investigating his crimes, so is his irrepressible obsession with his doctored bullets and one woman whom his handlers believe will be his Achilles heel.

He is speaking in a hushed tone, as if this is a forbidden subject. 'He said there were twins here, boys. He said their father died on the day they were born.' He stops and squints as if trying to remember something. 'I'm not sure if I'm getting the story right, but there were other twins before, but they all died. The father must have done something because these two lived, only them, and then he died. They were good children, that's what my father said, but then one day they must have been 14 years old...' He stops when he hears a gasp.

'What happened? What did they do?' Qhawe asks. 'They killed a priest. He was one of those that were recruiting people o join a church, and most people here believed him and followed him. He built a school and stuff. The twins went to that school. But he must have made them very angry because...' 'How did they kill him?'-Mqhele

The man shrugs before he speaks. 'From what I was told, they slit his throat and left him sitting on a chair, bleeding to death.' There's silence. The man is telling the story like its an urban legend, but they know, it is a familiar one. 'Is that what you wanted to know?' the man asks, looking at Sisekelo. He doesn't answer. 'So, what happened to the twins' mother?' Qhawe asks. The man sighs deeply. 'They burnt her alive.'

Zandile the resolute continues the story of the eight Zulu brothers.

Rich, handsome, powerful, dangerous and the wealthiest and most powerful families in Johannesburg, Zandile is the wife of the first brother Nkosana, their love story is like a South African township Romeo and Juliet.

Their families hate each other but their love is so strong, it endures all the hatred, the deaths and even prison time.