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Wikipedia baseline:Max du Preez

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South African author

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Max du Preez
Max du Preez in 2017
Du Preez delivering the Barry Streek Memorial Lecture in Cape Town in 2017
Born1951 (1951)
Kroonstad, Orange Free State, South Africa
Occupations

Max du Preez (born 1951) is a South African journalist and author. He is known as the founding editor of Vrye Weekblad (1988–1994), and Vrye Weekblad Online or Vrye Weekblad II (2019–2025), and for opposing apartheid. He was also editor and executive producer of a series of television documentaries about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission at the end of the apartheid era.

Early life and education

Max Du Preez was born in Kroonstad, Orange Free State, South Africa, in 1951, into a "conservative middle-class Afrikaner family", with seven siblings.[1] Both grandfathers were Boer soldiers in the Anglo-Boer war, and Du Preez is descended from Paul Kruger, president of the Transvaal Republic. His ancestors are 17th-century Dutch, French, and German settlers who settled in the Cape and eventually occupied the whole country.[2] His father, who came from a poor family and was an Afrikaner nationalist, supporter of apartheid, and a member of the Broederbond, yet had a strong sense of justice. He was castigated by members of his church for greeting the Black minister (of the separate Black church) at his front door and inviting him in for tea, and was kind to Black people in the street.[3]

In the late 1960s to early 1970s, Du Preez attended Stellenbosch University in the Western Cape, rather than the more conservative University of the Orange Free State in Bloemfontein, where the rest of his siblings went.[1] He graduated in political science in 1973.[4]

Career

Du Preez first worked for Die Burger in Cape Town.[1] Starting out as a reporter, he became the youngest person to be sent to the parliamentary press gallery of the (white) Parliament of South Africa, but was astonished to find that his reporting on what ministers said had to be approved by the minister before publication.[3] He joined the inaugural editorial staff of Beeld in 1974. However, he found it increasingly difficult to work for an Afrikaans newspaper group supporting the apartheid government, and in 1983 moved to the Financial Mail as a political reporter.[1]

He was then appointed political correspondent of The Sunday Times and Business Day.[1] In 1987 he was a member of Frederik van Zyl Slabbert's that travelled to Dakar, Senegal, to hold talks with the ANC's leaders in exile.[4]

He became involved with the United Democratic Front, an umbrella organisation comprising many anti-apartheid groups, including trade unions and church groups.[3]

Vrye Weekblad

Main article: Vrye Weekblad

Du Preez founded the Vrye Weekblad, a liberal Afrikaans-language weekly newspaper, in November 1988.[1] [3] Du Preez was an opponent of apartheid, and exposed stories of the regime's death squads[5] in the publication, which was the first Afrikaans newspaper to openly criticise the government.[3]

During his tenure as editor-in-chief, the newspaper's offices were bombed by the Civil Cooperation Bureau (a government death squad)[3] and Du Preez received death threats as a result of the paper's opposition to apartheid.[6] The government also squeezed the publication financially, in an effort to close it down.[3]

In 1990 Du Preez was sentenced to six months in jail for quoting Joe Slovo, the then leader of the South African Communist Party and a banned person.[7] In 1994, the publication had to close its doors.[3]

Vrye Weekblad Online, or Vrye Weekblad II, was launched on 5 April 2019.[8] again with Max du Preez as editor,[9] and owned by Arena Holdings. After running into financial difficulties, US-based Afrikaans financier Andre Pienaar took over in late 2022, creating the Nuwe Vrye Weekblad Media Group (NVWB). Du Preez retained a 49% stake and continued as editor-in-chief of Vrye Weekblad.[10] However the flagship publication closed down in March 2025,[11] not being able to maintain a large enough subscriber base. In early 2026, NVWB launched an Afrikaans online platform for business journalism.[10]

SABC

Du Preez joined the SABC in 1994, as a documentary filmmaker and anchor,[4] during which time it was transformed from a state to a public broadcaster.[1] He was editor and executive producer of 90 documentary programmes on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission process, called the TRC Special Report, which became the most watched documentary series ever on South African television.[1]

In 1999, he was dismissed by the SABC 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.[12] Du Preez later said that the programme had "just became a little bit too independent for the new apparatchiks at the SABC, and my contract was ended with a week's notice in mid-1998".[1]

The decision led to a public campaign to call for his reinstatement[13] and the handling by the SABC led to complaints to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa.[14] The incident was seen as symptomatic of a public broadcaster voluntarily transforming itself into a state propaganda apparatus.[15]

Mbeki criticism

In 2001, rumours that the President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki was a philanderer were brought to light by comments Du Preez made in a radio interview[5] on an SABC programme on 8 April 2001. Du Preez, in a discussion about a letter written by ANC Women's League president Winnie Madikizela-Mandela to Jacob Zuma, denying that she had accused Mbeki of womanising,[16] said: "This issue has been discussed, it is the hot topic of gossip in black high society, the political elite, journalists know about it, his whole security establishment know and talk about it and is concerned about it. Should we again be a little group of elite who knows this side of our president like happened in the past?" (referring to the apartheid-era cabinet).[5] His comments were reported on the front page of The Citizen, leading to multiple complaints and an apology by the newspaper.[16] The ANC called Du Preez a racist, a "commissar for apartheid", and declared "war" on him.[5]

Books

Du Preez is the author of many non-fiction books, including a memoir, Pale Native: Memories of a Renegade Reporter, in 2004.[17]

His A Rumour of Spring – South Africa After Twenty Years of Democracy, was published in 2013.[4]

His new book, The End of Normal, due to be published in May 2026, examines "how otherwise decent people came to implement and support an evil system like apartheid", the impact of the 1976 Soweto uprising, and continuing attitudes tensions in South African society, in particular the rise of a new Afrikaner nationalism.[18][19]

Other activities

Du Preez continues to write columns and op-eds for South African as well as British and European publications on occasion.[4][2] In April 2025, he wrote an op-ed in The Guardian condemning US President Donald Trump's policy of admitting White South Africans as refugees.[2]

He is also a public speaker, as a political analyst.[4]

Awards and honours

Du Preez is the recipient of a Master of Social Sciences Award from the University of Cape Town, as well as honorary doctorates from Stellenbosch and the Free State Universities.[4]

Other awards include:

Personal life

Du Preez was married, but divorced not long afterwards. He has two children.[1]

Selected works

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Du Preez, Max (2001). "Max du Preez, Hard-Nosed African" (Interview). Interviewed by Wiesner, Andre. Tiscali World Online. Archived from the original on 3 July 2019. Retrieved 18 October 2017 – via www.andrewiesner.com. Original publication: Tiscali World Online, 2001
  2. ^ a b c Preez, Max du (6 April 2025). "As a white Afrikaner, I can claim asylum in Trump's America. What an absurdity". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 April 2026.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Du Preez, Max. "Max Du Preez: Why I Became Dissident". George W. Bush Presidential Center (Interview). Archived from the original on 31 January 2025. Retrieved 4 April 2026.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Max du Preez". Famous Faces. Archived from the original on 5 October 2024. Retrieved 4 April 2026.
  5. ^ a b c d McGreal, Chris (24 April 2001). "Mbeki in thrall to fear and suspicion". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 23 October 2008.
  6. ^ Christopher S. Wren (5 July 1990). "Paper is bombed in Johannesburg". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 October 2008.
  7. ^ Christopher S. Wren (26 July 1990). "Johannesburg Journal: For an Afrikaner Weekly, Success Brings Bombs". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 October 2008.
  8. ^ "Vrydag 5 April 2019". vryeweekblad.com (in Afrikaans). 5 April 2019. Archived from the original on 7 April 2019. Retrieved 4 April 2026.
  9. ^ "Vrye Weekblad is back and armed with a power crew". TimesLIVE. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  10. ^ a b "NVWB Media Group Relaunches to Fill Gap in Afrikaans Business". The Common Sense. 17 February 2026. Archived from the original on 4 April 2026. Retrieved 4 April 2026.
  11. ^ Lategan, Herman (10 April 2025). "HERMAN LATEGAN: The taal turns verkramp again". Financial Mail. Retrieved 4 April 2026.
  12. ^ Chris McGreal (19 May 1999). "Sacking casts doubt on TV news". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 23 October 2008.
  13. ^ "Calls to re-instate TV's Max du Preez". Daily Dispatch. Retrieved 23 October 2008.
  14. ^ "Case No: 1999/11 SABC - News Item - Mr Max du Preez". Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa. Retrieved 23 October 2008.
  15. ^ "Press release: Max du Preez and the SABC board investigation into editorial independence". Freedom of Expression Institute. Archived from the original on 24 September 2006. Retrieved 23 October 2008.
  16. ^ a b "Citizen sorry for Mbeki 'womaniser' story". iol.co.za. 23 April 2001. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 4 April 2026.
  17. ^ a b "Max Du Preez". Franschhoek Literary Fair. 17 March 2026. Retrieved 4 April 2026.
  18. ^ a b "The End Of Normal (Trade Paperback)". Wordsworth Books. Retrieved 4 April 2026.
  19. ^ "AFRIKAANER AMERICANAH". Franschhoek Literary Fair. 18 March 2026. Retrieved 4 April 2026.
  20. ^ "Nieman Foundation Awards". Archived from the original on 4 January 2014. Retrieved 23 October 2008.
  21. ^ "SABC's Truth Commission Special Report Honoured". SAPA.
  22. ^ "International journalists describe their fight for justice". Yale Bulletin. Archived from the original on 18 April 2009. Retrieved 31 March 2006.
  23. ^ "Max Du Preez scoops Nat Nakasa Award". Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 23 October 2008.
  24. ^ Veen, Danica Van Der (12 June 2014). "Books News". Glamour. Retrieved 4 April 2026.
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