Coenraad de Buys was born in 1761 on a farm near Montagu. This Coenraad is generally regarded as the stamvader, or progenitor of the Buys people. By all accounts a formidable man, he left an indelible, often disruptive, mark on the historical, political and socio-cultural landscape of South Africa.

Professor Emeritus Michael de Jongh will deliver a keynote address on the subject at the Annual General Meeting of the Van Plettenberg History Society at 18h00 on Thursday 23rd November at the Angling Club on the Keurbooms River. After the business has been concluded, dinner will be available by prior reservation. For reservations please telephone Christo Oberholzer on 083 625 4310 before 20th November. 

Author of Karrietjie Mense (UNISA Press) and The Forgotten People: The Hessequa of the Southern Cape, (published by Plett-based publishing house, The Watermark Press), among other works, Professor de Jongh was formerly a Professor of Anthropology at UNISA. His books are available at the Old Nick, the Book Nook, the Village Bookshop, Knsyna Book Exchange, and Deo Gratia in Sedgefield.

“His uncommon height, for he measured nearly seven feet; the strength, yet admirable proportion of his limbs, his excellent carriage, his firm countenance, high forehead, his whole mien, and a certain dignity in his movements, made altogether a most pleasing impression. Such one might conceive to have been the heroes of ancient times; he seemed the living figure of Hercules, the terror of his enemies, the hope and support of his friends.” 

(Henry Lichtenstein, who met De Buys in the company of Commissioner General De Mist in the first decade of the 1980s)