Interview with Daneel Knoetze

Daneel Knoetze graduated in 2011 from Rhodes University with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Journalism and Media Studies. After cutting his teeth at the Cape Argus, he moved to Ground Up and then became Communications Officer for Ndifuna Ukwazi. In all three roles Daneel championed poor communities, focusing on poverty, inequality, crime, civil rights abuses and community mobilisation. A stint as a fellow on the US State Department’s Hubert H Humphrey Fellowship Programme followed in 2017/18. During this time, he completed a professional affiliation at Reveal from the Centre of Investigative Reporting in San Francisco. On his return to South Africa, Daneel became the founder and editor of investigative reporting unit Viewfinder, an accountability journalism project carrying out long term investigations into abuses of power which impact on the public interest – specifically as it relates to the need for equality and redress – in post-apartheid South African society. Viewfinder’s website states: ‘Through narrative journalism, documentary filmmaking and inter-newsroom collaborations we make complex findings accessible to audiences across the spectrum of South African news media consumers. ‘ Viewfinder has been a Taco Kuiper Award runner-up and a finalist for several other investigative journalism awards in South Africa and internationally.