Max du Preez (born 10 March 1951) is a South African author, columnist and documentary filmmaker and was the founding editor of ''

Vrye Weekblad ''Vrye Weekblad'' was a groundbreaking progressive, anti-apartheid Afrikaans South Africa, national weekly newspaper that was launched in November 1988 and forced to close in February 1994. The paper was driven into bankruptcy by the legal costs ...

''. Vrye Weekblad Online or Vrye Weekblad II was launched on 5 April 2019 again with Max du Preez as editor.

Beeld

Max du Preez is a writer, columnist and documentary filmmaker. Between 1982 and 1988, Du Preez was the Political Correspondent for various publications including ''

Beeld ''Beeld'' (freely translated as ''Picture'' or ''Image'') is an Afrikaans-language daily newspaper that was launched on 16 September 1974. ''Beeld'' is distributed in four provinces of South Africa: Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and North West, pr ...

'', ''

Financial Mail ''Financial Mail'' (or the ''FM'', as it is also known), is a South African business publication focused on reaching the country's leading business people. This weekly publication, which was launched in 1959, underwent a major "look and feel" ch ...

'', ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' and ''

Business Day A business day means any day except any Saturday, any Sunday, or any day which is a legal holiday or any day on which banking institutions are authorized or required by law or other governmental action to close. The definition of a business day ...

''. He won the

Nat Nakasa Nathaniel Ndazana Nakasa (12 May 1937 – 14 July 1965) better known as Nat Nakasa was a South African journalist and short story writer. Early life Nat Nakasa was born in outside Durban on 12 May 1937 to mother Alvina who was a teacher while h ...

Award for fearless reporting in 2008.

Vrye Weekblad

Du Preez founded the

, an

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 ...

-language weekly newspaper, in November 1988 and its progressive successor Vrye Weekblad Online in 2019. During his tenure as editor-in-chief, the newspaper's offices were bombed and Du Preez received death threats as a result of the paper's opposition to

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

. He was sentenced to six months in jail for quoting

Joe Slovo Joe Slovo (born Yossel Mashel Slovo; 23 May 1926 – 6 January 1995) was a South African politician, and an opponent of the apartheid system. A Marxist-Leninist, he was a long-time leader and theorist in the South African Communist Pa ...

, the then leader of the

South African Communist Party The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in South Africa. It was founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by the governing Na ...

and a banned person. The

broke the news of the

Vlakplaas Vlakplaas (trans. "shallow farm") is a farm 20 km west of Pretoria that served as the headquarters of counterinsurgency unit C1 (later called C10) of the Security Branch of the apartheid-era South African Police. Though officially called S ...

Death Squads and the role of its commander,

Dirk Coetzee Dirk Coetzee (15 April 1945 – 7 March 2013) was co-founder and commander of the covert South African Security Police unit based at Vlakplaas. He and his colleagues were involved in a number of extra judicial killings including that of Griffith ...

Dismissal from the SABC

In 1999, Du Preez was dismissed by the

SABC 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 ...

from his position as the executive editor of '' Special Assignment'', an investigative television show, after he objected when a documentary was barred from being shown. Though initially it was simply stated that his contract would not be renewed, the SABC later said he had been dismissed for gross insubordination. The decision led to a public campaign to call for his reinstatement and the handling by the SABC led to complaints to the

Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa The Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) is a string complaints authority established by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) to enforce a Code of Conduct for television and radio broadcasts in South Africa. The Co ...

. The incident was seen as symptomatic of a public broadcaster voluntarily transforming itself into a state propaganda apparatus.

"Womaniser" remark

Rumours that then-President

Thabo Mbeki Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki KStJ (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who was the second president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Congress (ANC ...

was a philanderer were controversially brought to light by a comment Du Preez made on a national radio show in 2001. During a discussion on the lack of examination of the private life of Mbeki, Du Preez said: "He is seen as a womaniser. It is publicly known and I think we should start talking about this, that the president has this kind of personal life. I'm not saying it's scandalous. He's a womaniser." The remark was subsequently carried on the front page of '' The Citizen'', leading to multiple complaints, apologies and a statement by a provincial branch of the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when ...

that it accepted "declaration of war by Max du Preez and his political masters who have unleashed an unprecedented vitriol against the ANC, its leadership, the President and its supporters."

Awards

* 1991 - Louis M. Lyons Award for conscience and integrity in journalism * 1996 - Excellence in Journalism award from the Foreign Correspondents' Association of Southern Africa * 2006 - Yale Globalist International Journalist of the Year * 2008 - Nat Nakasa Award for fearless reporting

References

External links

''Pale Native'' at Google Books

Max Du Preez in conversation on the BBC World Service discussion programme
''The Forum''
Max du Preez
''

Freedom Collection Freedom Collection is a digital repository sponsored by the George W. Bush Institute at the George W. Bush Presidential Center on Southern Methodist University's campus in Dallas, Texas. The collection documents major players in human rights and ...

'' interview {{DEFAULTSORT:Du Preez, Max South African writers South African newspaper editors Afrikaner people Afrikaner anti-apartheid activists Living people Alumni of the University of Exeter 1951 births