Max du Preez sponsors 'Maaifoedie'

Cape Town – Max Du Preez has jumped at the chance to sponsor the word "maaifoedie" as part of an Afrikaans dictionary fundraiser which recently landed him in hot water with the African National Congress.

The ANC took great exception to a Facebook post by Max du Preez, where he referred to ANC leaders as "maaifoedies".

Du Preez's action is part of the Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal (WAT - Dictionary of the Afrikaans Language)'s campaign which encourages people to sponsor any Afrikaans word at the price of R100 per word.

Du Preez has also sponsored other mischievous words including "karnallie"(scoundrel), "swernoot"(blighter) en "booswig" (villain).

Christmas words

Popular crime writer Deon Meyer has also sponsored the word "spanning" (tension) exclusively for R5 000 while AfriForum has indicated that they would like to sponsor the word "burgerregte" (civil rights) for the same amount.

According to editor in chief of the WAT Dr Willem Botha, the sponsorships are rolling in and some people are even sponsoring words as Christmas presents. Afrikaans writer Riana Scheepers has already sponsored ten words and has now sponsored eight more this week as Christmas surprises for her family.

Those who would like to sponsor an Afrikaans word can contact the WAT at 021-8873113 or send an e-mail to wat@sun.ac.za

Those who participate in the campaign stand a chance of winning R25 000.