Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool (Afrikaans pronunciation: [afriˈkɑːnsə ˈhoɛ̩r ˈsyœnskuəl]; meaning "African High School for Boy"; also known as Affies), is a public Afrikaans medium high school for boys situated in the suburb of Elandspoort in Pretoria in the Gauteng province of South Africa. The school was founded in 1920 by Jan Joubert and Reverend Chris Neethling.
Contents
History
Early years (1920–1928)
The school's founding on 28 January 1920 marked the establishment of the first purely Afrikaans-medium high school in South Africa. The event predated the official recognition of the Afrikaans language by five years. With English as well as Dutch established as the official languages in South Africa, many of the Afrikaans-speaking population believed Afrikaans should also enjoy recognition. Afrikaans as language grew so fast that CJ Langenhoven tabled a motion in the Cape Provincial Council to slowly replace Dutch with Afrikaans. This thought was strongly supported by MP Jan Joubert and Chris Neethling. As leaders in the community they quickly organized a group to establish a purely Afrikaans school in Pretoria.
On 27 January 1920, the first acting head, Johannes Arnoldus Kruger de Lange received the new pupils. The first enrolment was a boy named Frederik Botha. There were 35 pupils in form II (grade 9) and 10 in form III (grade 10); 45 in total. De Lange was supported by DJ (Dawie) Malan and MM de Vos who were joined on 11 February by HCP Sack. De Lange later became head at the Commercial Branch at the Pretoria Technical College.
The school with 45 children and 3 teachers was housed in the home of General Piet Joubert at 218 Visagie Street, Central Pretoria.
Current building (1927)
By 1927, the school had grown and new premises were required. The school was therefore moved eastward to the current premises of the Afrikaanse Hoër Meisieskool, Affies sister-school. At the end of 1927, the school took over the Hogere Oosteindschool, a Dutch-medium instruction school, suggestive of the demise of Dutch as a language in South Africa and the assumption of Afrikaans as the primary instruction medium.
Present (1928–)
By 1929 this building had also run out of space and the decision was made to split the boys and girls into separate schools, thus creating the first separate Afrikaans boys' and girls' schools in South Africa. These two schools are now situated opposite each other in Lynnwood Road.
Headmasters
List of the headmasters of Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool.
Notable alumni
Rugby
Louis Schmidt (1954): Springbok rugby player 1958 to 1962, and the original Blue Bull;
Tonie Roux (1964): Springbok rugby player 1969 to 1974;
Grant Esterhuizen (1994): Springbok rugby player 2000
Skipper Badenhorst (1996): Natal Sharks / SA Under 21 / Cheetahs Super 14 rugby player
Nicolaas Alberts (1996): Springbok Sevens Rugby Player and Cambridge University Triple Blue (Rugby, Cricket and Athletics)
Johann van Graan (1998): Former Springbok forwards coach and Munster Rugby head coach; current Bath head coach
Fourie du Preez (2000): Springbok rugby player 2004-2015 and Springbok Captain
Wynand Olivier (2001): Springbok rugby player 2006–2013
Pierre Spies (2003): Springbok rugby player 2006–2013
Dean Greyling (2004): Springbok rugby player 2011–2012
Gerhard van den Heever (2007): Japanese rugby union player
Quinn Roux (2008): Ireland International Rugby 2016-;
Andries Ferreira (2008): South African professional rugby player
Willie du Plessis (2008): Dutch international rugby player
Nico Janse van Rensburg (2012): Springbok rugby player 2021-
Cricket
Kruger Van Wyk (1998): Titans, South Africa A and New Zealand Black Caps cricket player
Jacques Rudolph (1999): South African international cricket player 2003 to 2011
AB de Villiers (2002): South African national cricket team player
Francois du Plessis (2002): South African national cricket team player
Heino Kuhn (2002): Titans and South Africa cricket player
Neil Wagner (2004): New Zealand Black Caps cricket player
Sybrand Engelbrecht (2006): Netherlands cricket player
Ruben Trumpelmann (2016): Namibia cricket player
Ruan De Swardt (2016): South African national cricket player
Dewald Brevis (2021): South African national cricket player
Golf
George Coetzee (2004): South African professional golfer
Tennis
Rayno Seegers (1970): South African tennis player, mixed doubles Wimbledon quarter-finalist
Johan Kriek (1976): South African tennis player, twice winner of Australian Open singles title
Danie Visser (1979): South African tennis player, three times Grand Slam doubles winner
Other sports
Sebastiaan Rothmann (1993): IBO and WBO cruiser weight boxing champion
Jacques Freitag (2000): South African Olympic high jumper
Lehann Fourie (2005): South African hurdler.
Gerhard de Beer (c. 2015): South African American football player
Ntando Mahlangu (2021): South African Paralympic athlete, two time Paralympic gold medalist
Academics
D. C. S. Oosthuizen: philosopher, critic of Apartheid
Hans du Plessis (1962): Afrikaans writer and poet, Emeritus Professor at Northwest University, Potchefstroom;
Fransjohan Pretorius (1966): South African historian and professor emeritus of History at the University of Pretoria;
Pierre Edwards (1970) : Springbok rugby player 1980, the former headmaster
Abraham J. Malherbe Theologian, Professor at Yale
Politics
Magnus Malan: Minister of Defence (1980–1991);
Gerrit Viljoen: Minister of Education and Minister of Constitutional Development;
Arts
Marius Weyers (1962): South African actor;
Ben Schoeman (2001): South African pianist
Christoph Kotzé (Appel) (2005): South African songwriter and recording artist
Zaan Sonnekus (2016): Musician
Chris Steyn (2022): South African singer; Die Kontrak Winner
Business
Giam Swiegers: businessperson
Markus Jooste
Meyer Le Roux - Buffelsfontein