Steve Hofmeyr

Steve Hofmeyr
Steve Hofmeyr in 2007
Background information
Birth name	Steve Hofmeyr
Born	(1964-08-29) 29 August 1964 Pretoria, South Africa
Genres	Afrikaans pop/folk
Occupation(s)	Musician songwriter actor TV Presenter
Instruments	Singing
Years active	1989–present
Labels	Big Heart Productions
Website	stevehofmeyr.co.za

Steve Hofmeyr (born 29 August 1964) is a South African singer, songwriter, actor and TV Presenter.^[1] He has been involved in several controversies throughout his professional career.

Personal life

Hofmeyr married actress Natasha Sutherland, whom he had met on the set of Egoli: Place of Gold in 1998. They had two sons, Sebastian, born 13 December 2001 and Benjamin, born later. Hofmeyr also has three other children by other women^[2][3] The couple was divorced after reports of numerous affairs dominated Hofmeyr's time in the spotlight in 2008.^[4]

In December 2008, Hofmeyr allegedly assaulted Esmaré Weideman, editor of Huisgenoot, a popular Afrikaans magazine, by pouring a cup of cold tea over her at the Miss South Africa finals.^[5] He was said to have blamed her and two other journalists for his divorce from Sutherland. Miss Weideman subsequently dropped her accusations.^[6]

On 19 December 2013, Hofmeyr was arrested in Bronkhorstspruit for driving at 169 km/h in an 80 km/h zone and was released on Bail of R500. He was subsequently fined R10,000 in the Bronkhorstspruit Magistrate's Court on 23 January 2014.^[7]

Hofmeyr married Janine van der Vyver on 26 January 2014. In 2008, van der Vyver, a fitness instructor, revealed they had been seeing each other for 10 years.^[8]

Hofmeyr's grandfather was Steve Hofmeyr Sr., a leader in the Ossewabrandwag.^[9][10]

Controversies

In January 2007, there were reports that one branch of the News Cafe restaurant chain would not play Hofmeyr's song Pampoen. The managing director of the company that owns the franchise denies that this is company policy and points out that many Afrikaans acts, such as Karen Zoid and Arno Carstens have performed at News Cafe.^[11]

On 12 May 2011, Hofmeyr released the lyrics to his new song called "Ons sal dit oorleef", which means "We will survive this". The song is controversial, because Hofmeyr has threatened to include the word "kaffir" in the lyrics of the song.^[12] Hofmeyr removed the offensive word in his song, citing that the word would offend his black friends and colleagues.^[13]

In 2011, he made public that he supports the organisation "Expedition for Afrikaner Self-Determination" (Onafhanklike Afrikaner Selfbeskikkingsekspedisie, OASE). OASE describes itself as an advocacy group for Afrikaner self-determination in compliance with the international law and the guidelines of the international community. He is an avid pro-Afrikaner but mentioned that he maintains a moderate political stance in an OASE public relations video.^[14]

Hofmeyr was heavily criticised after performing the former South African national anthem, Die Stem, at a cultural festival known as Innibos in Nelspruit in July 2014.^[15] He went on to perform the anthem on international tours, and encouraged white South Africans to continue singing it, stating that it did not contain any form of hate speech.

In October 2014, Hofmeyr wrote and published a tweet stating that he believed that black South Africans were the "architects of apartheid" on his public Twitter account. This prompted a significant public backlash.^[16] One of Hofmeyr's critics was puppeteer Conrad Koch and his puppet Chester Missing, who launched a campaign calling on companies to stop sponsoring Hofmeyr. On 27 November 2014, Hofmeyr failed to acquire a final protection order against Koch and his puppet in the Randburg Magistrate's Court.^[17]

Hofmeyr has given statements indicative of an apartheid denialist^[18] which has led various journalists and public figures to label him a "disgrace to South Africa".^[19][20] Steve Hofmeyr has lost the respect and support of the Afrikaans community because of his public racist outburst. Hofmeyr's controversial and extremist opinions rarely reflect the general viewpoint of Afrikaans South Africans. ^[21]

Discography

• Desertbound (1989)^[22]
• Only Me (1990)
• Steve (1991)
• No Hero (1992)
• Tribute (1993)
• Tribute Volume 2 (1994)
• The Hits/Die Treffers (1994)
• Decade (1996)
• Die Bloubul (1997)
• True to You (1997)
• Close to You (1997)
• Southern Cross (1999)
• Die Bok Kom Weer (1999)
• Beautiful Noise (2000)
• Grootste Treffers Volume 2 (2000)
• Engele Om Ons (2001)
• Blou Gat Jakkals Uit Die Wes-Transvaal (2003)
• Toeka (2003)
• Toeka Volume 2 (2004)
• Grootste Platinum Treffers (2005)
• Laaities & Ladies (2006)
• Waarmaker (2007)
• Go Bulle Go (2008)
• Sings Kris Kristofferson (2008)
• Solitary Man – Songs of Neil Diamond (2009)
• Duisend en Een (2010)
• Haloda (2011)
• 25 Jaar se Bestes (2012)
• Toeka 3 (2014)
• If you could read my mind (2015)

Filmography

Stage

• Summer Holiday
• Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
• Die Soen
• Sound of Music
• Dis Hoe Dit Was – Die Steve Hofmeyr Storie
• Lied van my Hart

Film

• Kampus (1986)
• Agter Elke Man (1990)
• No Hero (1992)
• Die Gevaar Van De AAR (1993)
• A Case of Murder (2004)
• Bakgat 2 (2010)
• Platteland (2011)
• Pretville (2012)
• Treurgrond (2015)

Television

• Guillam Woudberg (1985)
• Agter Elke Man (1986–1988)
• Egoli (1992–2001)
• Sporting Chance (1995)
• 7de Laan (2007–2012)
• Comedy Central Roast of Steve Hofmeyr (2012)
• Dis Hoe Dit Is met Steve (2006 -)

Bibliography

• Valkuns (1997)
• Jêmbekseep (2007)
• Mense van my asem – (2008)
• Vier briewe vir Jan Ellis (2010)

References