Category: News

Due to the CoronaVirus Pandemic, the South African National Schools’ Debating Championship was held online. The Championship was held from the 15th-20th of December on the Discord Platform. Though the competition was not without its challenges and we all dearly missed the vigour of being able to meet in person, for the most part, it was an enjoyable and educational experience for all involved. There were many other firsts for the championships besides its online platform. The Free State Province took part in their first final narrowly losing out to a team from South Korea, making the South Korean team the first international team to win a National final. This year was also the first time we had two international teams competing in the finals. Kenya took part in the Senior plate-final losing out to a team from the Gauteng province. It was also the first time we had all of the top 10 junior speakers from one province, Gauteng. The eventual winners of the senior and junior championships were from the Gauteng province. Congratulations to all speakers who took part in the final. We were once again inspired by the level of intellect, compassion and talent participants displayed. It was a difficult challenge moving to an online platform, and our learners took this in great stride and made Nationals 2020 a phenomenal experience. 

Without the hard work of our volunteers none of this would have been possible. Thank you to our Chief Adjudicators, Uheli, Shannon and Amaar for their invigorating motions which challenged  us. Our Tab masters, Bradley and Lame, were essential to the success of this competition. Finally our immense gratitude to the organising committee, Lebo, Bettina and Rimbi for taking the vision of an online tournament forward. 

The Social Justice Writing Competition is the result of a partnership between young people, the South African Schools Debating Board and the the Centre For Sexualities AIDS and Gender (CSA&G) at the University of Pretoria- through its Just Leaders student volunteer programme.

The competition is an essay writing competition and is open to all grade 8-11 learners in South Africa. The top entries are selected and published in a book through the CSA&G. The first leg of this competition was hosted in Gauteng.

Reflection on the 2019 Project

Acknowledgements

This whole project would not have been possible without the significant effort and contributions from the following people and organisations:

Bettina Buabeng-Baidoo and the SA Schools Debating Board (SASDB) initiated this project and ensured that it was successful – it would not have happened without her.

Pierre Brouard and his organisation, the Centre for Sexualities, AIDS and Gender (CSA&G) at the University of Pretoria, worked closely with Bettina to take this project through its various stages.

Bettina and Pierre also edited the stories and assisted the learners to polish them.

Tumelo “Duke” Rasebopye of the CSA&G took this project under the wing of the Just Leaders project he manages at the CSA&G and he assisted with developing and implementing the Social Justice workshop which the school learners attended as a requirement of entering the essay writing competition. The Just Leaders project is funded by the Norway-based Students and Academics International Assistance Fund (SAIH) and their generous financial assistance helped make this project possible.

Volunteers of the SASDB (Khutso Mhlaba, Ethienne Smith) and Board Members Tlou Matshidiso, Rimbilana Shingange, Irene Mpofu and Richard Chemaly) helped out on the day of the Social Justice workshop, especially with logistics; and volunteers from the CSA&G’s Just Leaders project (Boitumelo Nokeri, Chigo Mabila, Mohau Nei, Onkaetse Khupari) helped to organise and run the workshop, leading sessions with the learners, modelling advocacy and leadership.

Crawford College Pretoria generously hosted the workshop for the learners and Yvonne Ready offered support and oversight from Crawford’s perspective on that day, we thank them for this.

Last but not least, Johan Maritz designed, laid out and formatted the booklet and helped us to achieve an excellent product.

After months of intense training, SA Junior Trials are officially underway. As the coaches, we would like to wish the following trialists the best of luck.

1. Mamkhabela Mthembu-Stirling High School (EC)
2. Andrew Bradfield -Fourways High School (GP)
3.Daisy Whitcutt-Roedean School ( SA)
4.Gabriel Brouard Ancer -King David Victory Park (GP)
5. Gonste Moropa-Hoerskool Birchleigh (GP)
6. Nkateko Hlongwane-Rhodesfield Technical High School (GP)
7. Rheyna Pattni- Parktown Girls High School (GP)
8. Rinya Singh- Crawford College Sandton (GP)
9. Saxon Leathwhite- Roedean School (SA)
10. Thandekile Ndolvu- Hoerskool Jan De Klerk(GP)
11. Tariro Banganayi- Sacred Heart College (GP)
12. Suvasha Ganess -Solovista Secondary School (KZN)
13. Seyanne Govender- Durban Girls College (KZN)
14. Sthembiso Matenjwa- Mountview Secondary School( KZN)
15.Thea Juanita Earnest-Mountview Secondary School( KZN)
16. Wisden Nadasen- Greenbury Secondary School (KZN)
17 Madzanga Ramabulana- Pepps College (Lim)
18. Nwabisa Mbishilo- Camps Bay High School (WC)