Riaan Cruywagen (born 5 October 1945) is a South African

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

news reader and voice artist who has been associated with the

South African Broadcasting Corporation The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations ( AM/ FM) as well as six television broadcasts to the general public. It is one of the largest of South Africa's state ...

since its first television broadcasts in 1975. Cruywagen continued to present the

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

news on the SABC network every weeknight until his final broadcast on SABC 2 on 26 November 2012 at 7pm

CAT The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

. He has made approximately 7000 news broadcasts.

Career

He began his career as a journalist in 1965 when he started working part-time at the SABC in Cape Town, while studying at the

University of Stellenbosch Stellenbosch University ( af, Universiteit Stellenbosch) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant ...

. He presented his first news bulletin on 26 November 1975 at 8:00 pm – the first story he read on that night was the sentencing of

Breyten Breytenbach Breyten Breytenbach (; born 16 September 1939) is a South African writer, poet and painter known for his opposition to apartheid, and consequent imprisonment by the South African government. He is informally considered as the national poet lau ...

to nine years in jail. In June 2003, following an outcry over reports that Cruywagen's contract with the SABC would not be renewed, an agreement between the SABC and UASA (

United Association of South Africa The UASA is a general union in South Africa. Background The union was founded on 1 April 1998, when the Administrative, Technical and Electronic Association of South Africa merged with the Underground Officials' Association. It affiliated to ...

) was reached. His contract was renewed and it was announced that he would continue with his duties for a period of time. Cruywagen presented his final news bulletin on SABC 2 on 26 November 2012 at 7 pm. RiaanProudlySA

The name Riaan Cruywagen has become synonymous with Afrikaans television news through his lengthy career. In the mid-2000s, following the contract renewal issue, Cruywagen was once more the focus of popular culture in South Africa for a time, when a number of e-mail and internet jokes originally referring to

Chuck Norris Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris (born March 10, 1940) is an American martial artist and actor. He is a black belt in Tang Soo Do, Brazilian jiu jitsu and judo. After serving in the United States Air Force, Norris won many martial arts championshi ...

and

David Hasselhoff David Michael Hasselhoff (born July 17, 1952), nicknamed "The Hoff", is an American actor, singer, and television personality. He has set a Guinness World Record as the most watched man on TV. Hasselhoff first gained recognition on ''The You ...

were modified by using his name in their place. South African-themed jokes in a similar vein were also circulated, mostly related to his perennially youthful appearance and intellectual prowess. Cruywagen was also the voice artist for the character Haas Das on the popular Afrikaans children's news programme ''

Haas Das se Nuuskas {{Unreferenced, date=December 2009 ''Haas Das se Nuuskas'' (''Haas Das's News Box'') was a weekly short television show in South Africa about a rabbit and a mouse running a news broadcast in Diere Land (Animal Land). Created by Louise Smit in 1976 ...

'' in 1976. He also voiced the character when it was revived in a movie ''Haas Das hou konsert'' (Hare Tie Holds A Concert) in 2007. He originally landed the job when he told the show's creator Louise Smit a joke. She grabbed him and screamed: "I've got my rabbit!". He also voiced numerous characters in another popular children's programme, " Liewe Heksie". He appeared in an ad-campaign for ATKV/Pendoring, as a waiter in a restaurant with a board on the wall saying: "Moenie die taal afskeep nie! (Don't neglect the language!)" – referring to Afrikaans. Cruywagen has appeared in a number of films, playing himself as a newsreader, including an appearance reading the news in Zulu in

Leon Schuster Leon Ernest "Schuks" Schuster (born 21 May 1951) is a South African filmmaker, comedian, actor, prankster and singer. Early life Schuster was drawn to the filmmaking process at an early age. As a child he and his brother would play practical ...

Sweet 'n Short ''Sweet 'n Short'' is a 1991 in film, 1991 Leon Schuster movie made in South Africa. It was directed by Gray Hofmeyr. Plot In South Africa, Sweet Coetzee wins an award for 20 years service as a sportscaster on his 40th birthday, beating his ...

. He was also seen in Stander as a nostalgic reminder of his long career as newsreader.

References

External links

Who's who of South Africa:Riaan Cruywagen

"Don't Shoot"
– a documentary about Riaan Cruywagen in the Why Democracy? 2007 series
TVSA Actor Profile

Snaparazzi Gallery
* – Riaan Cruywagen's last bulletin uploaded by SABC News on their YouTube channel {{DEFAULTSORT:Cruywagen, Riaan 1945 births Living people Afrikaner people South African people of Dutch descent South African television journalists South African television presenters Stellenbosch University alumni

Career

See also

References

External links