Max du Preez

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. 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.

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.

Career Du Preez first worked for Die Burger in Cape Town. The government also squeezed the publication financially, in an effort to close it down. In 1994, the publication had to close its doors. again with Max du Preez as editor, 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. not being able to maintain a large enough subscriber base. In early 2026, NVWB launched an Afrikaans online platform for business journalism.

SABC Du Preez joined the SABC in 1994, as a documentary filmmaker and anchor, 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". and the handling by the SABC led to complaints to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa. The incident was seen as symptomatic of a public broadcaster voluntarily transforming itself into a state propaganda apparatus.

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 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, The ANC called Du Preez a racist, a "commissar for apartheid", and declared "war" on him.

Other activities Du Preez continues to write columns and op-eds for South African as well as British and European publications on occasion. 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. 1996: Excellence in Journalism award from the Foreign Correspondents' Association of Southern Africa from the SA National Editors' Forum 2014: Winner, Alan Paton Award, for A Rumour of Spring: South Africa after 20 Years of Democracy

Personal life Du Preez was married, but divorced not long afterwards. He has two children.

Selected works (about Louis Luyt)

(about Julius Malema)