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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 Online or Vrye Weekblad II was launched on 5 April 2019 [2] again with Max du Preez as editor. [3]
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 , Financial Mail , Sunday Times and Business Day . He won the Nat Nakasa Award for fearless reporting in 2008.
Du Preez founded the Vrye Weekblad, an Afrikaans-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. [4]
He was sentenced to six months in jail for quoting Joe Slovo, the then leader of the South African Communist Party and a banned person. [5]
The Vrye Weekblad broke the news of the Vlakplaas Death Squads and the role of its commander, Dirk Coetzee.
In 1999, Du Preez 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. [6]
The decision led to a public campaign to call for his reinstatement [7] and the handling by the SABC led to complaints to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa. [8] The incident was seen as symptomatic of a public broadcaster voluntarily transforming itself into a state propaganda apparatus. [9]
Rumours that then-President Thabo Mbeki was a philanderer [10] 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." [11]
The remark was subsequently carried on the front page of The Citizen , leading to multiple complaints, apologies [12] and a statement by a provincial branch of the African National Congress 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." [13]
Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki 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). Before that, he was deputy president under Nelson Mandela between 1994 and 1999.
Govan Archibald Mvuyelwa Mbeki was a South African politician, military commander, Communist leader who served as the Secretary of Umkhonto we Sizwe, at its inception in 1961. He was also the son of Chief Sikelewu Mbeki and Johanna Mahala and also the father of the former South African president Thabo Mbeki and political economist Moeletsi Mbeki. He was a leader of the South African Communist Party and the African National Congress. After the Rivonia Trial, he was imprisoned (1963–1987) on charges of terrorism and treason, together with Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Raymond Mhlaba, Ahmed Kathrada and other eminent ANC leaders, for their role in the ANC's armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK). He was sometimes mentioned by his nickname "Oom Gov".
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Vrye Weekblad was a groundbreaking progressive, anti-apartheid Afrikaans 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 of defending its charge that South African Police General Lothar Neethling had supplied poison to security police to kill activists.
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Special Assignment is an investigative current affairs programme on SABC. Since August 1998 the programme has covered news events in South Africa and beyond, often disclosing criminal activities and atrocities unknown to the public. Ashraf Garda is the shows current host. The Show is screened weekly on SABC 3 at 21:30 GMT.
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