South Africa win ASDC

Source: Bizcommunity and Justice Motlhabani.

The third annual African Schools' Debating Championships (ASDC) sponsired by FNB was hosted recently by St John's College in Johannesburg, South Africa. 20 African schools participated in the week-long competition including South Africa, Botswana, Nigeria, Rwanda, Angola and Kenya.

16 of the schoold came from South Africa including, Clifton School, Muir College, Parktown High for Girls, Pretoria Girls High and St Andrews College. Topics ranged from "The Middle East Peace" and "Youth Vote 2009".

A number of high profile guest speakers were arranged to meet the students during the event included South African Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni, Professor Ben Turok, Constitutional Court judge Edwin Cameron, Deputy Minister of Education, Advocate Andre Gaum and Olympics gold medallist Penny Heyns were present.

However the highest profile guest was former South African President Nelson Mandela who attended the final and met the teams

There are two competitions at ASDC. One where national teams compete against each other and another where individual schools compete against each other.

South Africa beat Botswana in the final of the nations competition. A hybrid (combined) team made up of speakers from the Free State of St Dominics College and Heronbridge College won the schools championships.