Interview with Byron King – 2007
Byron came to St David’s mid-year 1998, grade 3. Byron’s family had relocated from Cape
Town, where he had attended a small government school, to Johannesburg. Debbi Zambon
was his teacher and he recalls that it quite an intense and overwhelming experience for him.
The sport was much more competitive, the buildings formidable and it was very cold.
Johannesburg was very different and he didn’t have as much freedom as he had in the
Cape. His mother Cheryl started working at the school and therefore, Byron spent most of
his time at the school.
Willy Castle ruled the prep with an iron fist, but Byron used to see him at school and
afterwards in a social capacity together with his parents. Byron’s passion was his guitar and
was encouraged and influenced greatly by Rick Wilson the prep school headmaster. He
participated in sport with swimming, soccer, and athletics but he never featured in any top
teams.
Byron though that Ron Thackwell, Mandy Everson and Craig Sinclair were excellent
teachers with Craig having an incredible general knowledge which he imparted to the boys.
Roger McIver was his grade 7 English teacher and although he loved English, he fought him
all the time but now they are the best of friends and Roger is one of his mentors. The prep
boys love to hear the story of how Mr King and Mr McIver didn’t get on. Byron remembers
well the grade 7 lunches with food from Steers when Rick Wilson made a speech and
mentioned every boy in grade 7.
Byron felt more integrated in the high school but wasn’t a member of the main groups. He
became friendly with Dino Zuccolo who was very driven, worked extremely hard and in spite
of that always came second. Boys grew up quickly in high school. In grade 7 you tend to
think you are invincible until the grade 8 camp with guys you had never seen or met before
and of course new teachers. The older boys seemed enormous and the entire grade 8’s
were scared of them. Initiation was fierce and the matrics were vicious with the grade 8’s in
Byron’s year, but the boys respected them. They had a great 1st team rugby and when they
mentored the boys one on one gave them guidance..
By grade 9 the boys became a bit cockier with hormones, girls, cell phones and the
accompaniments of the teenage youth. His class was a close knit group and became more
so after the death from cancer of Justin Bessler which brought them together again after
leaving school.
Byron took sport more seriously in high school and did well in swimming, water polo, and A
and B team rugby. He lived for sport and no longer played his guitar until he reached first
year at varsity. Byron was captain of the B swimming team and captain for one or two rugby
games.
Special events, Byron recalled the New Zealand and Australian rugby tour in his matric year.
The team consisted of 25 boys including 5 from grade 11. Boys on tour generally become
very close and this tour was no exception. His fondest memory is of the 1st team rugby
beating St Stithians at home in 2007. The stands were packed Byron was on the bench the
atmosphere was electric. From a social point of view there was quite a bit of tension as
many of the St David’s boys were friendly with St Stithian’s girls. He also recalled the time in
grade 8 and 9 when St David’s beat KES.
Byron was line-up monitor, but didn’t receive a leadership scroll. Rod Smith told him it was
his sloppy dress and behavioural issues that let him down. Mr Smith was his favourite
teacher teaching English but also covered Life Skills. He always came late by 10 or 15
minutes to start a lesson, although he was very strict on discipline. He was housemaster of
Osmond house which always did well, the theory being that he selected the boys for his
house whilst they were at the grade 8 camp.
Byron also studied Art and found Anneke Carter to be a great teacher and made the subject
so interesting. Once, the boys went with her to the Carlton Centre to draw the Johannesburg
skyline. She allowed the boys some freedom for 40 minutes and many of them wandered off
with the result that they arrived back at school late and missed several other lessons. In his
matric Byron achieved a distinction in Art with several other boys, he didn’t struggle with the
history of Art and spent many Saturday afternoons doing pracs in the Art room.
Walter Thompson was the boys’ rugby coach from grade 8 to grade 10 and taught Maths.
The boys really enjoyed him, he treated them well but they understood the line they
shouldn’t cross. He treated the boys like adults on the rugby tour and they rewarded him with
the U16 rugby team winning all their matches. Then for some reason things changed and the
boys became demotivated and lost the drive to win.
Marius Buys was an interesting teacher coaching rugby and teaching Afrikaans and
Geography.
Byron was awarded scrolls for U16A rugby, U14A rugby. He did help out with the SMILE
programme once but unfortunately didn’t have time to participate more than that. He
performed in house plays in grade 11, auditioned for the school play but wasn’t selected.
Byron respected the ethos of St David’s and realised it was a privilege to have received a
Marist education with its focus on modesty, humility and simplicity.
After Matric, Byron took a gap year and together with Cameron McLullich went to St
Augustine’s a Marist school in Cairns, Australia near the Great Barrier Reef. The school
uniform was different but the ethos was very similar. A top boy’s school it was run by Marist
brothers in their 40’s upwards, living on the premises. The head brother Michael was aged
about 55 and Byron enjoyed the Brothers innovative and modern approach to Marist
education, It influenced his eventual decision to become a teacher. He visited 3 Marist
schools whilst in Australia – St Josephine’s in Sydney, Marist Ashgrove in Brisbane. All, the
schools offered boarding and were absolutely phenomenal. Two Australian Brothers are
starting a Marist organisation and members will be recognised as an official Marist educator.
On his return to South Africa, Byron went to Stellenbosch to study for a BComm but
absolutely hated it and decided to return to Johannesburg and study to become a teacher.
He started working and studying through Unisa simultaneously and regards himself as
extremely fortunate to have Rick Wilson as his guide and mentor. Teaching is very different
now with the use of Ipads, laptops and smart boards etc.
Byron is currently an intern at St David’s and believes he is fortunate to have guidance from
Rick Wilson and other prep school teachers.
JLE August 2013

Interview with Craig Wallington – 2007
Craig began his career at St David’s in 1995 at the age of 6 in grade 0. In his matric year, he
recalled that there were more boys than in previous years who had completed 13 years at
the school.
Craig’s first teacher was Mrs Sternberg and she left at the end of his year as did his teachers
for grade1, 2 and 3 but he felt redeemed when Mrs Jones in grade 4 stayed on! He has fond
memories of his grade 0 class with prayers before lunch. One of the boys accused another
of having his eyes open during prayers to which Mrs Sternberg replied “How do you know”?
Craig particularly enjoyed grade 4 with Heather Joseph as his Art teacher. He enjoyed the
sport and was the vice captain of cricket in grade 5 and swimming in grade 7. He played
tennis and hockey. At St David’s you got to do everything and, although not a phenomenal
sports person, he played sport every term.
Craig was a member of “The Bishops” from grade 0 to grade 9 but when he chose to study
Zulu instead of Afrikaans he had to move to “Osmond”. Zulu was very new to St David’s with
Mrs Ntombeni the teacher. Eventually Craig decided to go back to Afrikaans at the beginning
of the third term in grade 10. He set his mind to mastering the subject and was awarded the
subject prize in matric.
Teachers who made an impression on him were Mr McIver in grade 5 and 6, Mr Midgley
who taught Maths in grade 7 and Mrs Everson, English. In the high school all the teachers
were really good and Craig couldn’t really point out anyone in particular but Ms D King was
very helpful, also Simon Holderness who taught Maths and was his tutor. Mrs Nagy was
brilliant and Craig believed that her class dynamics were really good. The standard was high
and Craig started study groups with the grade 8’s in the library for the final exams. Craig
achieved academically throughout his time at St David’s.
Craig was involved with public speaking, debating, chess- captain, junior city council where
he met his current girlfriend, annual book quizzes and study groups. Anything you wanted to
achieve was possible and even more so now with Music and Art. He was involved with the
SMILE programme which he found to be an amazing experience. Craig enjoyed St David’s
as there were so many different ways in which one could excel. He was recognised for his
achievements in an environment where academics are recognised and sport did not override
that.
As for the school camps the only one he really enjoyed was the grade 4 Bush Pigs camp.
The grade 9 camp was also super with good leadership experience and a great spirit of
adventure. Craig learnt a lot about himself, although it was a terrifying experience most of
the time. In grade 10 they went hiking in the Drakensberg which he felt was madness and
ended up often hiking alone. The grade 11 camp he recalls was wet and very muddy, it
poured with rain the whole time. They had to cross a bridge to get into the camp and their
shoes were absolutely caked with mud.
Although most of his experiences at St David’s were generally good he does remember that
in grade 9, all the boys were punished when only a few didn’t attend the inter house Music
competition. The matric group that year wasn’t great.
His closest friends were also with him from grade 0, Gianluca Sacco, Connor Williams,
Duncan Otridge and Daniel Chappel, they are now even better friends than they were at
school. He also remembers Benjamin Ndimurukundu in grade 11 with whom he played
doubles, tennis and working together with Tyson Sithole,
Craig felt that St David’s fosters a learning attitude with the influences the teachers had, they
were so accommodating especial when Craig decided to take Accounts as an extra subject.
However a school cannot prepare you for everything and at university one had more
responsibility for one’s self.
Craig became a prefect was awarded honours for academics and (general academics,
cultural and leadership).
On a personal level Craig remembers bumping into Paul Edey when he was in grade 6, Paul
saying “I hear you are the next Daniel Wright”. Craig always studied since grade 8 and
always worked on something beyond his immediate objective and received continuous
positive reinforcement. His goal in matric was to come first in Afrikaans which he achieved,
winning the Buckley-Jones trophy for Afrikaans. Craig was always winning prizes throughout
his school career and in grade 12 was awarded the BR Hunt Trophy for Dux of the school
and the following trophies:
Walter Cronje Trophy for Additional Mathematics; the Phillimore Trophy for English; the
Matric 1991 Trophy for Biology; Thomas McFadden Trophy for History; Mayat Trophy for
Computer Studies; Ryder Bowl for Academic Achievement and the Gian-Paolo Pera
Accounting Prize.
The matric Dance was very special with the grade 11’s organising an amazing event “Cirque
De Soleil”. Marc Neto was head of the MDC and Graham Gallow gave his speech
acknowledging the fact that everyone was there and being a very close knit group.
On leaving St David’s Craig studied for a B Acc Science and was in the top twenty on four
occasions. He completed his honours and in his 2nd year Account articles but is in his first
year at PWC.
Craig is a member of MOBs and would definitely send any sons to St David’s.
JLE June 2013

Interview with Temba Bavuma – 2007
Temba moved from Cape Town to Johannesburg with his parents in 2003 and first went to Fourways High
School joining St David’s in grade 10 when he was awarded a sports scholarship to play cricket. He was
spotted by Shane Gaffney and Roger Budd at a regional U15 cricket week.
At first he found the school rather intimidating and didn’t know quite what to expect as a co-ed school is run
somewhat differently. He made friends easily especially with his sporting background being involved with
rugby, soccer, cricket and cross-country.
Temba was awarded colours for soccer and cricket but didn’t play in an open year. He played for the A or
1st team in all the sports in which he participated and at one time soccer was his first love before cricket. He
struggled in the first few years but represented Gauteng U19 cricket. Initially he was going to study at UCT
having gained 3 distinctions in matric but he stayed on at St David’s and completed a post-matric year
which qualified him to play for SA Schools. It was a very tough year having to come back to school in
uniform and repeating matric subjects again. However, it did make him mentally stronger as an individual
and from a cricketing point of view.
Temba enjoyed the brotherhood at the school with a tight relationship amongst the guys especially in rugby
and cricket.
Temba did struggle with all the discipline and school regulations and those parameters but, with hindsight
he now appreciates it. He found all the teachers to be different and he could relate to them. Mr Ireland
didn’t show much emotion presenting a tough facade but Temba enjoyed him. Mrs Deetlefs had a vibrant
nature and always engaged with the students and Ms Cambitzis tried to break the student, teacher barrier.
Temba feels he owes a lot to Shane Gaffney who gave him the opportunity to succeed and contributed
greatly to enable Temba to get to where he finds himself now. Shane was very strict but tried to get the
best out of him and the other boys.Temba also had a good relationship with Amarinda Binder who helped
him a lot.
One unfortunate incident which stands took place during his grade 11 year when Sello M........... lost his
soccer boots and assumed that Temba had them. Sello took Temba’s school and cricket bag in revenge
which meant that Temba couldn’t do his homework or attend cricket training. This was a disaster for
Temba.
Temba went on school tours to Maritzburg and was involved in the St Albans tournament for cricket and
with soccer went to Kloof High and Durban, and played rugby in Bloemfontein at Gray’s College and St
Peter’s.Temba remembers that before his matric dance he was playing cricket all day and wondered if he
would ever make it.
The friendships he made at school he will always cherish and he remembers in particular Sabelo Sithebe,
head boy whom everyone respected, he was inspiring.
Temba matriculated in 2007 and 2008 with Accounting, Biology, Zulu, English, Business Economics and
Mathematics. He admits that his focus was not on marks but on cricket and was fortunate to play SA
Schools and for the SA U19 team, memories which he will cherish forever.
Temba appreciated the support he was given by being at St David’s, the way the school was run with its
systems and structure which enabled him to become the person he is today. It shaped him and encouraged
him. The values and principles the school instilled in him whilst he was there. The biggest thing wasn’t
about academics but how to be a man amongst other men. Comfortare Esto Vir: Take courage and be a
man.
In 2009 Temba enrolled at University of Johannesburg to study for BComm Finance. He finished the first
year but dropped out in the second due to his cricket commitments, enrolled at Unisa and finished his
degree in June 2014. He found it difficult to study and play sport. It was hard to find the energy after a
tough days training to apply himself to his studies. At the moment he is focused on his cricketing career and
a coaching facility at St David’s which he hopes will start at the end of March. He will be touring India and
Bangladesh during the winter.
Temba is now receiving information from MOBS and hopes to get more involved in future.
JLE February 2015