Vaalweekblad Contact Details

Vaalweekblad is the Afrikaans weekly for the Vaal Triangle, published on Wednesdays and sold rather than given away. Its own domain now redirects into The Citizen network, so a search often lands on a general news page instead of the paper contacts. The newsroom and advertising desks are still run from the Vanderbijlpark office.

Official contact details

• Switchboard: 016 950 7000
• Advertising: 016 950 7006
• Office: 23 on Delius Office Block, corner Delius and Beethoven, SW5, Vanderbijlpark

The paper lists its advertising, legal and vacancy, and classified desks against individual staff mailboxes rather than departmental ones. Those are personal work addresses, so the numbers above are the durable route; ask for the desk by name of function when you call.

Where it is delivered

Distribution is wider than the name suggests and crosses the provincial boundary into the Free State.

• Vanderbijlpark, Vereeniging and Rust-ter-Vaal
• Sasolburg, Parys and Deneysville
• Heidelberg, Midvaal and De Deur or Walkerville

It appears on Wednesdays at a cover price of R7.20. If it is not reaching your street, that is a distribution query for the switchboard, and you will need the suburb and the week.

Submitting news, notices and advertisements

• News tips and letters go to the newsroom through the switchboard; the paper runs a letters page and an SMS comment section
• Legal and vacancy notices are a separate desk from display advertising and have their own deadline
• Classifieds are booked separately again, and can also be placed through the Citizen classifieds page for the title

Writing for an Afrikaans weekly

The paper carries fixed weekly sections including editorial comment, in-depth features, health, community care, business, motoring, jobs, arts and reviews, church news, a schools page and several pages of sport. Pitching a story to the section that runs it, rather than to the paper in general, is what gets it read. Copy in Afrikaans will be handled faster than copy that has to be translated, and a print weekly closes days before the Wednesday it appears, so an event needs to be with the desk early in the week.

If you have a complaint about coverage

• Raise it with the editor through the switchboard first, in writing, naming the article, the date and the inaccuracy
• The Press Council of South Africa takes complaints about member publications and can order a correction or apology
• A Press Council complaint is free but normally requires you to waive the right to sue over the same matter