Youth meets former president Thabo Mbeki
Top essay on former president
AFORMER Mlungisi youth got to meet her idol, the former South African president Thabo Mbeki, after she wrote an essay about the stateman’s achievements.
Oyinikayo Speelman, the daughter of former Queenstonian Sicelo Speelman, is currently a grade seven pupil at Collegiate in Port Elizabeth.
Her dream of meeting Mbeki materialised last Saturday when she was invited as a guest of honour to a breakfast meeting where the former president addressed business leaders.
Sicelo said he had been so impressed by an essay she wrote as part of a school project, detailing Mbeki’s family, his education and his work on the African continent, that he had decided to send it to the former president’s office.
Mbeki said he admired Oyinikayo’s determination to understand her country’s history and her patriotism.
Sicelo said Oyinikayo felt humbled and honoured and was excited when she received the invitation. “I think she realised that the experience she had was not just about meeting the former president, but that it was a huge experience and one that not everyone would have.”
Sicelo said Oyinikayo, knowing the calibre of the man and the strides Mbeki had made in uplifting and sustaining the country’s economy while embracing the continent, was “amazing and delighted by portraying the former president exactly the way citizens of South Africa and the world view and admire him.”
The pupils of Colle- giate applauded Oyinikayo upon her return to school on Monday.