Bio
Freek Robinson is a South African journalist, anchor and television presenter best known for hosting the SABC2 current affairs show Fokus, since 1994.
Born and raised in Pretoria, Robinson matriculated from Hendrik Verwoerd High school in Pretoria in 1970.
He received a B.A. (Hons) in Literature from the University of Pretoria in 1975 and began working for the SABC in 1986 as a political correspondent.
He moved to London in 1988 to take up the post of European Correspondent for SABC News, and stayed there until 1991. Upon returning to Johannesburg he took up the post of Anchor Presenter and CA Executive Producer for the SABC, which he held until 2006.
In 1993 he received a Diploma in Business Management from the University of Stellenbosch.
In 1994 he was appointed as the Manager of Television Current Affairs programmes at the SABC, and in the same year chaired the debate between Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk just prior to the first ever democratic elections in the country, which was viewed by more than 800-million people worldwide.
He also began presenting Fokus Met Freek (Focus With Freek) that year, which later became known simply as Fokus.
He attended an Economic Literacy course at Wits University in 2006, and the following year received his MPhil Journalism degree from the University of Stellenbosch, specialising in Media Management.
Also in 2006, he was appointed by the SABC as their Manager of Public Affairs. He left the fulltime employment of the SABC in October 2007 to become a talk show host of the radio actuality programme Praat Saam on RSG (Radio Sonde Grense).
The following year he won the ATKV award for presenting the best radio actuality programme and in 2009 he won the ATKV media award as best television interviewer in his position as anchor of Fokus.
Robinson has won numerous awards for his work in journalism and television, including:
Best News Actuality Executive Producer (Star Tonight, 1986)
Best Television Presenter (Artes, 1992)
Best Financial Journalist on Radio and Television (Sanlam, 1997)
Best Television Presenter (ATKV, 2000)
Best Current Affairs Television Presenter (SABC News, 2006)
Best Radio Presenter - Actuality (ATKV, 2008)
Best Television Interviewer - Fokus (ATKV, 2009)
Robinson also hosted the Human Rights Day special that aired on SABC2 on 21 March 2008, called I Am South African.
He has been married to Liza de Villiers since 5 August, 1994. The couple have two sons and three daughters.