DIE BRANDWAG HOERSKOOL
School Profile
The Garden Town of Uitenhage on the banks of the Swartkops River is not far from Port Elizabeth and the sea, an important railway centre which is better known for its automotive industry.
School
Die Brandwag Hoërskool was founded in 1937, stemming from the need of the Afrikaans-speaking community to have mother tongue education for its children.
The first principal was NJ Uys. It was in his time that the school got its name, proposed by Messrs WA Meyer and RJ Fourie , and its colours, badge and motto.
The badge is described as follows:
Arms: Per fess, the lower half per pale: 1. A landscape of the Groot Winterhoek mountains, with Cockscomb Peak predominant; 2. Sable, a Voortrekker sentry proper; 3. Gules, an open book in front of a burning torch in pale proper; upon an inescutcheon argent, an aloe with four racemes.
The school belongs unashamedly to the Eastern Cape – part of the motor industry, part of the rich agriculture of the hinterland, and part of the fast-growing Nelson Mandela Bay Metropole.
The school has three koshuise which attract children from all over the Eastern Cape and further afield.
School information:
Name: Die Brandwag (The Sentry)
Foundation: 1937
Motto : U dienswillige dienaar (Your obedient servant) – taken from CJ Langenhoven who used it as the title of his autobiography published not long before he died in 1932.
Pupil numbers:
Rugby teams:
Address: P?B X62, Uitenhage. 6230
Telephone: 041 992 8188
Fax: 041 922 7354
Website: http://www.brandwag.co.za/
Rugby
Three Old Boys have become Springboks – Johan van der Merwe and the brothers Carel and Polla Fourie. Wayne van Heerden, Wylie Human and Drickus Hancke played for South Africa Under-21. Van Heerden is also a Sevens Springbok.
Wylie Human is back from a spell in England and is playing for the Lions while Michael Vermaak is on his way overseas after playing for the Cheetahs.
Sean Plaatjies captained South African Schools in 1996, as Dewald Potgieter did in 2005. Apart from them Freddie Ferreira, Wayne van Heerden for two years and Vincent Gwavu have been selected for South African Schools.
Die Brandwag, which organises a top tournament to start the season, plays against the top schools in South Africa, including Affies of Pretoria, Paarl Boys’ High, Paarl Gymnasium, HTS Middelburg, HTS Vereniging, Boland Landbou, Grey PE, Outeniqua and HTS Daniël Pienaar.
