South Africa’s World Test Championship-winning captain Temba Bavuma is defining his legacy not only by his runs and cricketing intelligence, but also by the way he is extending his help to others, on and off the field.
On the field, he hopes to be remembered as a captain who helped others feel free to express their individuality, like supporting batter Wiaan Mulder in his recent decision to not break Brian Lara’s Test score record.
Off it, he is trying to make sure that young South Africans in vulnerable positions have a local cricketing hero they can relate to – something which took him some time to find in his own youth.
One of the key ways he’s giving back is through non-profit organisation DKMS Africa — a donor recruitment centre and registry — to raise awareness about the importance of registering as a stem cell donor, which helps save the lives of blood cancer and blood disorder patients.
Bavuma told ESPN about his motivation to join DKMS as an ambassador: “My late grandma passed away via leukemia and that was something that was never spoken about in the household.
“I guess for them to see me getting behind a cause like this allowed them to somewhat heal – at least to speak about it, but also heal from what was traumatic for them.”
Apart from his grandmother, the Proteas skipper was inspired by the story of an aplastic anemia patient – a 14-year-old fan named Iminathi. DKMS Africa introduced Bavuma to Iminathi’s story and he hosted the young fan at the Wanderers alongside the Lions – the Johannesburg-based team which the Proteas captain represents in local tournaments.
Bavuma said: “I think in life, we all need heroes. We all need people to look up to. I guess we all grow up with our own dreams and aspirations and ambitions and those easily come to life – or at least become reachable – when you see people like you who are doing it.
“For an individual like Iminathi, as well, who I got to meet – and before meeting him, understood his story – that also was a source of inspiration that I could draw from. I’m quite privileged in a lot of ways within my life.
“The pressures and struggles that I go through are nothing compared to what Iminathi does and he is still able to do it with a smile on his face.”
DKMS Africa was established in 2021, following the amalgamation of international organisation DKMS and the South African Sunflower Fund. Although they have made some progress reaching South Africans of all ethnicities, they still face challenges building diversity among their donor base.
South Africans are classified by the government according to four main racial groups: Black, Coloured, Asian/Indian and white. Among DKMS Africa’s 125,000 registered donors, 45% are White, 38% Black, 9% Coloured and 8% Asian.
White South Africans make up 7.3% of the country’s total population, as per the 2022 national census, and are therefore disproportionately represented among donors despite significant progress over the last four years.
As a result, it may be easier for white South Africans in need of a stem cell donor to find a match than for their Black counterparts, who make up 81.4% of the total population.
South Africa’s Test cricket captain says he is proud to be a player young kids can look up to, as he didn’t have many that looked like him when he was a child
Apart from disparities in access to information, Bavuma attributes the relative shortage of Black stem cell donors to the importance of blood in some African cultures, and the stigma associated with most stem cell donations being collected from the bloodstream.
“I think there’s a lot of stigmas that exist among people of my [ethnicity] when it comes to blood and giving blood. I think that can only be challenged by educating people and also people seeing someone similar to them going out and supporting these kinds of causes,” said Bavuma.
In the Xhosa culture he grew up in, blood is viewed as the essence of life and a conduit for connection with the ancestors.
He explained: “Black culture is a bit interesting if you haven’t grown up with it – especially if you look at it from a Western type of lens. Blood is quite sacred within our culture. The sacrifice of blood, the use of blood and the exchange of blood – those things have a certain significance.
“To challenge that, you need the right education. You need the right type of people as well to be able to speak the language that those types of people understand.”
In his youth, Bavuma had a taste of both the hardship that many South Africans face and the privilege reserved for a few, of whom a disproportionate amount are white. Born and raised in Langa Township in Cape Town, Bavuma quickly gained attention for his prodigious cricketing talent.
This afforded him scholarships at two of South Africa’s most prestigious schools – first the South African College School (SACS) in Cape Town during his junior schooling, and then later St David’s Marist Inanda in Johannesburg after his family relocated during his high school career.
When the Proteas have been divided, Bavuma has been able to draw upon his experience of both worlds to ensure unity prevailed.
One notable example was in 2021, when Quinton de Kock withdrew from a T20 World Cup game against the West Indies over a hasty directive from Cricket South Africa to the players five hours before the game to take a knee against racial discrimination.
De Kock later apologised and credited Bavuma for being a “flipping amazing leader” for maintaining unity among those who played the game in de Kock’s absence without ostracising him for following his convictions.
That was a period which Bavuma acknowledged at the time was one of his hardest as a leader of the team. However, more recently, he has witnessed his conviction that no player under his watch should be afraid to make a bold decision embodied by a Proteas player under much happier circumstances.
Wiaan Mulder – serving as stand-in captain in a Test against Zimbabwe in July for the then-injured Bavuma – declared despite being on 367* himself, only 33 runs shy of Brian Lara’s world record. The decision has drawn praise in some quarters and criticism in others.
Regardless of whether it was the right or wrong call, the sheer bravery of the decision is a sign in itself that Bavuma’s values are likely to remain in the Proteas setup beyond the end of his captaincy.
“People always ask: ‘What is it about this team?’ We’re not a team of superstars, but there are always moments or snippets that give you a real shot or preview into what the team is about,” Bavuma said.
“That moment there – Wiaan Mulder – a young guy making his mark in international cricket in his first game as a stand-in captain has an opportunity to break the world record and is able to make a decision like that. That, for me, shows what the team is about,” Bavuma said.
“I was actually there in Zimbabwe when Wiaan and the coach [Shukri Conrad] made that decision. I think he would have earned a lot of respect not just from us as players, but from the cricketing world.
“It’s easy to say that you’re going to put the team first and all of that, but the important thing is: when it’s in front of you, what do you exactly do?”
Whether it relates to his work building a winning cricket culture within the Proteas or a culture of awareness regarding people with blood disorders through his work with DKMS Africa, Bavuma is looking to ensure that actions do the talking.