Kwa-Thema – Masifunde Sonke Book Club, under the Kwa-Thema Library, recently represented Kwatsaduza at Kagiso Archives in the Funda Mzantsi Championship 2025.

The competition is annually organised by the Gauteng Department of Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation to promote literacy and social reintegration. This year, the event brought together book clubs from across the province to celebrate literacy, debate, and indigenous languages.

Masifunde Sonke Book Club returned home victoriously with 13 trophies and four Lenovo laptops. The competition had four categories, namely reading impromptu, debate, spelling bee, and book review, in which participants competed.

“All categories were conducted in South Africa’s 11 official languages. As a book club, we achieved outstanding results in Sesotho, isiZulu, Afrikaans, English, and isiXhosa.

“Four of our members achieved overall wins, each receiving both a trophy and a laptop for their exceptional performance,” explained library cadet Nkosana Radebe.

“Two new members, Angel Miya and Sboniso Lukhele, made the club especially proud. Angel secured second place in the isiZulu Reading category, while Sboniso achieved first place in the isiZulu Spelling Bee, demonstrating that new voices can make a big impact.”

Radebe highlighted that Funda Mzantsi is designed to preserve and promote indigenous languages while encouraging a culture of reading.

“The prizes won serve as motivation to continue inspiring more young people to read for enjoyment and knowledge. As the Kwa-Thema Library, we encourage all community members to take part in library programmes and join book clubs like Masifunde Sonke.

“Membership is free with a library card, giving everyone access to resources that can open doors to competitions, opportunities, and a lifelong love of reading,” he added.

Masifunde Sonke’s achievements at Funda Mzantsi stand as proof that when a community comes together through books, success follows.