Max du Preez Bio

Max du Preez is a veteran journalist, author, and political analyst. After graduating in Political Science from Stellenbosch University, Max worked as a journalist, covering South African and regional politics. He was the political correspondent for the Financial Mail, Sunday Times, and Business Day. In 1989, he was the founder/editor of the first anti-apartheid Afrikaans-language newspaper, Vrye Weekblad, which was revived as an online publication earlier this year. He was the producer/presenter of pioneering SABC programmes such as the Truth Commission Special Report and Special Assignment when he worked at the SABC between 1994 and 2000. Du Preez is the author of 13 books on South African history and politics. His latest, A Rumour of Spring – South Africa After Twenty Years of Democracy, won the coveted Alan Paton Prize for Non-fiction in 2014. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of the Free State in 2017 and by Stellenbosch University in 2018. Du Preez is also Extraordinary Professor in the School of Communication at North-West University, and a Fellow in the Centre for Leadership Ethics in Africa at the University of Fort Hare.

Among his many awards is the Pringle Prize from the National Union of Journalists in 1990; the Louis M Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism from the Niemann Fellows at Harvard University in 1991; the Award for Outstanding Journalism from the Foreign Correspondents Association in 1996; the Yale Globalist International Journalist of 2006; and the Nat Nakasa Award for Courageous Journalism from the SA National Editors’ Forum in 2008.

Max has researched widely about the history of  Mohlomi and King Moshoeshoe and presented many lectures on the topic. He is also widely acclaimed for his thought provoking speech during the graduation ceremony of Masters and PHD students at the University of Free State in 2018. The speech can be accessed on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNxxLOaAzTQ 

Source: University of Free State