[9] The Press Club was formerly based at the Café Royal on Church Street in downtown Cape Town,[7] but in the 21st century it has lacked a permanent venue.

[1] However, it frequently held events at the Kelvin Grove Club in Newlands, a venue sometimes regarded as the "colonial home of the Mother City's ageing gin-blossomed Wasp elite"[10] or "one of Cape Town's bastions of the privileged English liberal establishment".

[12][13] As of 2012, the Press Club had over 500 members, including 133 businesspeople, 125 journalists, and 86 public relations professionals;[14] to cover its costs, it relied not on membership dues but on corporate sponsorship.

[52] In response, Joemat-Pettersson released a statement that concluded with the barb, "We now finally understand why the majority of black reporters in the city are not members of the press club.

"[53] The governing African National Congress (ANC) defended Joemat-Petterson: party spokesman Jackson Mthembu argued that van Dalen's membership in the Press Club undermined its claim to being a professional and non-partisan organisation,[54] and Chief Whip Mathole Motshekga proposed that the club should review its membership criteria to ensure that politicians did not "infiltrate the ranks of a press body".

[59] In October 2016, the Press Club cancelled a scheduled event featuring Steve Hofmeyr, a musician noted for his far-right-wing political views.

[66] In a front-page article in August 2018, the Cape Times reported that, at its recent annual general meeting, the Press Club had elected an "all-white, predominantly male" committee.

[66][68] Later the same week, the Cape Times printed the resignation letter of Joylene van Wyk, a black journalist at Landbouweekblad who had served as the Press Club's co-chairperson until she failed to gain re-election at the 2018 general meeting.