DURBAN, December 11, 2013 (AFP) - Play had begun seven hours later than planned after heavy rain left the Mount Edgecombe course saturated.
Brooks, who retained his European Tour card at Qualifying School last month after a disappointing rookie campaign in 2013, hit four birdies in five holes to surge to the top of the leaderboard.
A trio of French players are in pursuit, with Francois Calmels second on seven under and Romain Wattel and Edouard Dubois tied a shot further back.
Challenge Tour graduate Calmels, who won an event in Mauritius last week, admitted: "It was a great week for me. I made a great last round 65 to win by one over Hennie (Otto), and that give me quite a bit of self-confidence.
"I know I'm playing well, and the great round today was just perfect."
More than half the field were unable to complete their opening round, with play set to resume at 06:00 local time (04:00GMT) on Thursday.
Latest first round scores in The Nelson Mandela Championship in Durban on Wednesday (par 70):
Note: Round 1 Play suspended at 18:37 (1637GMT) local time due to bad light. Play is scheduled to resume at 06:00 (0400GMT) local time on Thursday.
62 - Daniel Brooks (ENG)
63 - Francois Calmels (FRA)
64 - Romain Wattel (FRA), Edouard Dubois (FRA)
65 - Joel Sjoholm (SWE), Ryan Cairns (ZIM)
66 - Adrien Saddier (FRA), Jaco Ahlers (RSA), Estanislao Goya (ARG), Victor Riu (FRA)
67 - Tjaart Van Der Walt (RSA), Dawie Van Der Walt (RSA), Jbe Kruger (RSA), Phillip Archer (ENG), Matthew Carvell (RSA), Bradford Vaughan (RSA), Charl Coetzee (RSA)
68 - Andrew Johnston (ENG), Jens Fahrbring (SWE), Daniel Gaunt (AUS), Brandon Stone (RSA), Julien Guerrier (FRA), George Coetzee (RSA), Andrew Georgiou (RSA), Alastair Forsyth (SCO), Theunis Spangenberg (RSA), Fredrik Andersson Hed (SWE), Vaughn Groenewald (RSA)
69 - Carlos Del Moral (ESP), Titch Moore (RSA), Justin Harding (RSA), John Hahn (USA), Jens Dantorp (SWE)
70 - Ockie Strydom (RSA), Edouard Espana (FRA), Louis Taylor (RSA), James Kamte (RSA), Sam Little (ENG)
71 - Damien McGrane (IRL), Tyrone Ferreira (RSA), Stuart Manley (WAL), Jose Manuel Lara (ESP), Neil Schietekat (RSA)
72 - Desvonde Botes (RSA), Ulrich Van Den Berg (RSA), Grant Muller (RSA), Chris Hanson (ENG), Peter Karmis (RSA), Chris Swanepoel (RSA)
74 - Jean Hugo (RSA), Dylan Frittelli (RSA)
76 - Warren Abery (RSA)
77 - Alphuis Kelapile (RSA)