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Pieter-Louis Myburgh is a multiple award-winning investigative journalist and author.
Pieter-Louis’s recent work on the Department of Health’s dodgy R150-million Digital Vibes contract booted former health minister Zweli Mkhize from his cabinet position.
In 2019, Myburgh’s acclaimed book, Gangster State (Penguin Random House), exposed former ANC Secretary General and ex Free State Premier Ace Magashule’s questionable conduct.
Among myriad issues unpacked in the book, Gangster State — in painstaking and forensic detail — revealed Magashule’s links to a controversial R255-million asbestos audit contract from the Free State’s provincial government. This led to the arrest of Magashule and other officials and businesspeople involved in the deal.
Pieter-Louis Myburgh was also part of the #GuptaLeaks team that in 2017 processed and published damning details from a huge trove of emails and documents pertaining to the shady business dealings of the Gupta family, South Africa’s most notorious state captors.
In that year, Myburgh’s first book, The Republic of Gupta (Penguin Random House), was published.
Myburgh’s first major breakthrough as an investigative journalist came in 2015, when he exposed malfeasance around a botched R3.5-billion locomotives contract at South Africa’s state-owned rail commuter entity, Prasa.
For this, Pieter-Louis Myburgh won his first of three Taco Kuiper awards, South Africa’s most prestigious accolade for investigative journalism.
Myburgh currently plies his trade for Daily Maverick’s celebrated investigations team, Scorpio.
Drawing from his work on some of the country’s biggest news developments and political scandals, Myburgh’s keynote address is an unflinching reflection on South Africa’s corruption and governance crisis.
Pieter-Louis Myburgh is also a regular guest on current affairs and news shows on some of South Africa’s major radio and television stations.
After obtaining a honours degree in journalism from Stellenbosch University in 2009, Pieter-Louis Myburgh kicked off his career as a journalist at Beeld newspaper in Johannesburg before later joining Afrikaans weekly Rapport, where in 2015 he exposed the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa’s (PRASA) infamous multi-billion rand tall trains scandal. Myburgh has also worked at NEWS24, where he formed part of the #GuptaLeaks team that helped expose South Africa’s most notorious state captors.
Myburgh joined The Daily Maverick’s investigations team, Scorpio, in early 2019.
Sifting through heaps of records, documents and exclusive source interviews, Pieter-Louis Myburgh explores Magashule’s relationship with the notorious Gupta family and other tender moguls; investigates government projects costing billions that enriched his friends and family but failed the poor; reveals how he was about to be arrested by the Scorpions before their disbandment in the late 2000s; and exposes the methods used to keep him in power in the Free State and to secure him the post of ANC secretary-general.
Most tellingly, Myburgh pieces together a pack of leaked emails and documents to reveal shocking new details on a massive Free State government contract and Magashule’s dealings with a businessman who was gunned down in Sandton in 2017.
These files seem to lay bare the methods of a man who usually operated without leaving a trace. Gangster State is an unflinching examination of the ANC’s top leadership in the post– Jacob Zuma era, one that should lead readers to a disconcerting conclusion: When it comes to the forces of capture, South Africa is still far from safe.
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Max du Preez is a veteran journalist and television personality with a strong reputation for his independent thinking, understanding of the political and social dynamics of South Africa and abilities to communicate complex issues simply and clearly. He was born in the Free State in 1951 and educated at Stellenbosch University.
His career in journalism includes serving as the political correspondent of the Financial Mail, Sunday Times and Business Day.
In 1988 he was the founder and editor of the first anti-apartheid Afrikaans newspaper Vrye Weekblad which became famous for its fearless reporting and exposés of the apartheid government’s death squads.
He joined the SABC in 1994 and pioneered and presented such programmes as the Special Report on the Truth Commission and Special Assignment.
He was dismissed by the SABC in 1999 “for disrespecting SABC management”, a charge he could not deny.
Max now works as a syndicated columnist, a documentary film maker, a political analyst and popular public speaker.
He has written nine highly acclaimed books on South African history and politics. The updated and revised edition of his memoir, Pale Native – Memories of a Renegade Reporter, as well as its Afrikaans equivalent, Dwars – Mymeringe van ‘n Gebleikte Afrikaan, have just been published.
Among his other published books are Of Warriors, Lovers and Prophets, Of Tricksters, Tyrants and Turncoats, Oranje Blanje Blues, Essence of a Land, The World According to Julius Malema (with Mandy Rossouw) and Oor Krygers, Korrelkoppe en Konkelaars.
He has just been commissioned by Penguin Books (UK) to write The Rough Guide to Nelson Mandela
Max du Preez is a Fellow in Applied Leadership Values at the University of Fort Hare and an honorary research associate at the Centre for Film and Media Studies at the University of Cape Town.
Among his many awards are the Pringle Award from the South African Society of Journalists, the Louis M Lyons Award from the Nieman Fellows at Harvard University, the Excellence in Journalism Award from the Southern African Foreign Correspondents Association and an honorary degree from the University of Cape Town.
Max du Preez was the 2006 Yale Globalist International Journalist of the Year and the 2008 recipient of the prestigious Nat Nakasa Award for integrity and courage in journalism from the SA National Editors Forum.
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Richard Poplak is an award-winning author, journalist, and filmmaker. He has become one of the most widely read and controversial political journalists in South Africa, editing at large for the Daily Maverick. Poplak has reported from over 25 developing countries, for the Financial Times, Atlantic Monthly, The Guardian, among others. He was recently part of a team that won the prestigious Global Shining Light award for investigative journalism.
Richard has worked as a freelance journalist and writer since 2005. His work has been anthologized numerous times, and he frequently appears on Al Jazeera, BBC, CBC, and elsewhere as a commentator on topics that range from world events to sport: he is considered a go-to voice on the burgeoning Sino-African relationship; on South African politics; and on international cycling.
Richard Poplak is a former Rockefeller Fellow, and a recipient of the Bookmark Award for the best journalist in South Africa. He is also a contributor in the innovative global investigative journalist collective Deca Stories.
As a member in the Gupta Leaks team, Richard Poplak helped break one of the biggest stories in South African media history. The journalistic consortium won the Taco Kuiper Investigative Journalism award, Vodacom Journalist of the Year, and was cited for a Nat Nkasa Bravery in Journalism award. In 2019, the team won the prestigious 2019 Global Shining Light award, the highest honour in investigative journalism.
Before Richard Poplak became a journalist, Richard trained as a filmmaker and fine artist at Montreal’s Concordia University (1992-1995) and has produced an directed numerous music videos, television commercials, and documentary films. He is the co-director of a documentary feature film on the public relations firm Bell Pottinger, called Influence, which is premiering in competition at the Sundance Film Festival in 2020.
Keynote Topic
INFLUENCE: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE WORLD’S MOST DANGEROUS PUBLIC RELATIONS COMPANY
Synopsis
The feature-length documentary film INFLUENCE charts the recent advancements in weaponized communication by investigating the rise and fall of the world’s most notorious public relations and reputation management firm: the British multinational Bell Pottinger.
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The Afro Divas are one of the most exciting and versatile groups in Kwa-Zulu Natal. Keeping it in the family with their strong lead vocals and fabulous harmonies, this spectacular vocal trio consists of sisters Yolanda Cenge, Khutala Cenge and Ntombi Cenge.
Career highlights include performing at the Dubai International Jazz Festival, at the 2014 Common Wealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, and in Tanzania for a South African Day.
They have shared stages with superstars such as Hugh Masekela, Phuzekhemisi, Mahotella Queens, Freshlyground, Rod Stewart and Mi Casa, and they have worked with Vicky Sampson as backing vocalists.
The trio has been selected to represent KwaZulu Natal for a South African arts and Development Agency sponsored by the Department of Arts and Culture, the National Lottery and 999 Music.
They have also released a single titled “Africa Unite”. In October 2015 Philani Ngidi and the Afro divas travelled to Mozambique connecting Durban and Maputo through music In association with Concerts SA with the main aim being to encourage unity between the African countries by collaborating with great artists from Mozambique.
Covering genres from African Jazz, Afro Pop and Pop music, to contemporary and Afro Soul Music, they have appeared at numbers Jazz festivals, corporate functions and team building events.
Highlights performing for the The Chef Awards, Mayoral Awards, The Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry Gala Dinner at the Durban I.C.C, South African Common Wealth Games Launch at Hilton ,The BRICS events, for the President at the D.T.I Gala Dinner in Gallagher Estate in Johannesburg and for Oude Meester where Jamie Fox was the keynote speaker, the World Forestry Congress S.A.B Gala dinner and other corporate events.
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