By Karen Breytenbach
Acclaimed journalist, writer and political commentator Max du Preez has withdrawn in anger from the Woordfees in Stellenbosch because he refuses to share a platform with right-wing writer Dan Roodt.
Du Preez said that "not even the conservatives in Britain would touch his work because they find it too racist".
The controversy was initially sparked by Stellenbosch academics Annie Gagiano and Yvonne Malan, who asked Woordfees organisers to "quietly disinvite Roodt". But the controversy soon reached the media, leading to passionate letters on Litnet.co.za and in Die Burger.
Du Preez also explained his reasons for withdrawal in a letter to the organisers of the festival. He has posted it on Litnet.co.za in a letter debate that has been raging since last week.
The bad blood between the writers began years ago, but became public after Du Preez's open criticism of Roodt in, among other media, Rapport, as early as 2002.
Roodt, who is known as an outspoken Afrikaner activist and writer, has been invited to take part in two events at the festival. The first is a discussion about the "little magazines" of the 1980s, during which decade he wrote critically of the South African government's involvement in the war in Angola.
He was also invited to be interviewed on his transformation from the leftwing writer he was in the 1980s to the rightwing writer, social commentator and Afrikaans activist he is today.
According to Woordfees organiser Dorothea van Zyl, Roodt was invited purely as a writer and not as an activist.
She said: "We find it extremely disappointing that a writer such as Max would think we were providing a platform for Roodt's political activism. It is a great pity and misunderstanding.
"We are interested only in hearing about Roodt's novels, which have received praise, even from academics like Joan Hambidge and André P Brink, who absolutely oppose Roodt's political ideas."
But Du Preez believes strongly that "ordinary decent citizens, and especially Afrikaners" who are "embracing the changes in our country", should not stand by and allow Roodt to use "respectable platforms for his message".