Pupils place KZN on top at debate challenge
FIVE Verulam pupils are the talk of their school – and of the town – after walking away with top honours in the inaugural Nelson Mandela Debating Challenge.
Mountview Secondary School pupils Thea Earnest, Abigail Parbunath, Unam Mjoli, Robert Mathenjwa and Siyabonga Mtshali represented KwaZulu-Natal in the contest, for which they were named overall winners, and now two of them will represent the country overseas.
The competition was organised by Tshimong, a social enterprise that partners with private and public sector entities to create debating, public speaking and leadership training programmes, and the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
After a rigorous selection process, the organisers selected one winning school from each province to compete at the challenge held in Sandton recently.
After six days of rigorous debating, workshops, information sessions and educational tours, Team Mountview defeating the Western Cape in the semi-finals and Limpopo in the finals.
“I took five kids up and it was a phenomenal experience because they debated a lot about Nelson Mandela and his contributions to the country,” said debate convener and the school’s acting HOD for language, Meloshnee Pillay.
“Besides it being a competition, it was also a history lesson for the kids as we took them to heritage sites and even the 1976 school where the riots took place and they got to also debate in the same school.”
Thea, 15, said winning the inaugural debating challenge was “phenomenal”.
“Being a small school and representing the province was an honour. Not only did we as learners of Mountview Secondary School make our school and community proud, but we also showed everyone how the youth of South Africa approach issues like land expropriation and racism.”
The topics debated included stalled racial reconciliation and presidential retirement benefits contingent on the philanthropic work done by a former president.
Robert will represent South Africa at the World Schools Debating Championship in Croatia/Slovenia (July 17 – 27) and Siyabonga at the Heart of Europe Tournament in Czech Republic (July 11 – 19).