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Founders Weekend
 

From Hammarsdale to Kearsney to Haute Cuisine 
 

Mzwandile Hector Mnyayiza’s enrolment at Kearsney College in January 2000 was made possible through the award of a Kearsney rugby scholarship. Raised in nearby Hammarsdale, Hector had dreams of playing for the Sharks and even the Springboks one day.
 
In 2004 he played for the 1^st XV which, under the captaincy of Bradley Barritt, enjoyed an outstanding season, scoring victories against Maritzburg College, Durban High School, Hilton, Michaelhouse and Glenwood (on our Founders Weekend). Part of a star-studded team, Hector was selected for the KZN U19 Academy Invitation XV. He also played for the 1^st Basketball team that year.
 
A conscientious student, Hector gained his matric in 2004 at the end of a difficult year in which he lost his father. He then had to make a decision about his future – further study or the rugby academy? He opted for the former and chose catering as his field of study.
 
He recalls that his mother taught him how to cook and that from the age of ten he had been cooking family dinners and Christmas lunches. He had worked during the school holidays in the kitchen of the Camelot Country Club in Hillcrest where he remembers the chef saying, “If you don’t have the passion for being a chef, don’t come into my kitchen!”
 
Past parent Russell Stevens, the father of Matt Stevens (2001), British Lions 2005 – 2013, gave him the life-changing opportunity of studying at the International Hotel School in Durban, where he enrolled at the beginning of 2005 and graduated at the end of 2007.  He did his in-service training at the Royal Hotel where he was in awe of Chef Luke Nair, a demanding perfectionist from whom he learned much of value and to whom he still turns for advice from time to time.
 
He took up the offer of a position of chef de la partie at the hotel and worked with Nkosikhona Manqele who encouraged him to enter competitions. In 2008 he was runner-up in the Chaîne de Rotisseurs Young Chef of the Year Competition.
 
Later that year he and Nkosi decided to venture out on their own and opened the 3 Chefs Bistro in Umhlanga where Hector assumed the responsibilities of sous chef.
 
Believing that he still had much to learn in the kitchen, he turned down an attractive position as head chef and general manager at a five star boutique hotel in Plettenberg Bay, instead, his next move was to Sun International’s Sibaya Casino and Entertainment Kingdom on the North Coast. As executive sous chef, he was privileged to work under Chef Keshun Rambarun. He soon rose to the position of executive chef, managing a staff of thirty chefs and cleaners.
 
Last year Hector was a finalist in the prestigious Unilever Chef of the Year Award. He entered the senior section of the competition together with thousands of other applicants and then proceeded through the regional finals before reaching the national finals with one of his favourite signature dishes, chicken roulade. He is entering the competition again this year in September.
 
Hector, whose dedication to his profession and passion for the art of food are palpable, is presently serving his notice at Sibaya’s Aqua Restaurant before starting a new chapter in his career as executive chef at the State Theatre in Pretoria. Without the support provided by a rugby scholarship, and the extraordinary generosity of Russell Stevens, Hector would not have been able to attend Kearsney, or to pursue his dream, and the talents of this gifted young man might never have come to light.
 

Kearsney Supporting the Rhino