‘Charlotte’s the best in SA’
A Worcester matriculant’s gift of the gab has earned her the top spot in a national debating competition for schools and a sneak preview of President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation address.
Yesterday Worcester Secondary’s Charlotte le Fleur, 17, was declared the winner of the GCIS-Sanlam State of the Nation National Schools Debate.
The final leg of the competition was held at the provincial legislature yesterday and guests included Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane and acting director-general of basic education Bobby Soobrayan.
The competition is aimed at promoting a culture of healthy debate among young people.
The first round was held last year and 266 pupils from all nine provinces participated in the competition.
The three finalists, Charlotte, who represented the Western Cape, Bojosi Morule, who represented the Free State, and Kgaugelo Mokholwane, who represented Gauteng, received the topic for the final debate only two hours before the finals. The topic was: will the majority of South Africans benefit from the 2010 World Cup?
Charlotte’s arguments impressed the adjudicators and she earned R6 000 for herself and R10 000 for her school.
She said she did not have much experience in debating.
“I only entered one competition before this one. My school does not have a debating team. I always researched my topics and read a lot of books and newspapers to prepare for debates.”
Charlotte said yesterday had been a nerve-racking day.
Before the finals, she and the eight other provincial winners of the competition, had met Zuma at Tuynhuys.
He asked the pupils what they thought he should say in tonight’s address, scheduled for 7pm.
Some of the issues the pupils raised included education, the recession and service delivery in rural areas.
Zuma agreed that these were pertinent issues and allowed Charlotte and some of the other pupils a sneak preview of his address.
She said she “felt special” to be one of only a few people to see the address before its delivery.
Charlotte, who plans to study medicine, accepted an invitation to attend the State of the Nation address and said she was looking forward to it.
Source: IOL
admin @ February 12, 2010