Provincial Speech Contest

A total of 12 contests from different districts assembled at Majuba FET College to compete in the Grade 11 Provincial Speech Contest last Friday. The Amajuba District was stripped of their championship title when Bongumusa Nkwanyane who hails from Uthungulu District, raced for the number one spot. He won the opportunity to study towards a fouryear degree in financial planning, a tablet, a 40cm Screen LCD Smart TV and a certificate.
Last year’s winner, Mondli Ngwenya from Ferrum High School shared his experience and what he has learned from this competition.
“This competition is not only about competing but it is about learning about managing your finances, which everybody needs.”
The 16-year-old Bongumusa impressed the adjudicators with his speech titled, ‘Mom/dad, will we be rich?’. Accepting his prize he said he was already in the business stream at school, which he enjoyed. “I gained interest in finance during this contest, I have learned a lot about myself and how to deal with people and public speaking. I hope I have transferred the skills I have learned to other students,” said Bongumusa.
The judges commended the amount of effort the teachers and the contestants put into the tight competition. “Our job was tough; every contestant brought something to the table and this year I would like to commend the hard work that was put in, it showed,” said chief adjudicator Jay Ramsunder from INSETA. Angel Mchunu from Umzinyathi
District came second whereas Hafsa Rajab from Umlazi came third and Zamokuhle Ximba from Amajuba District came forth. No one leftempty handed as the second and third winners each went home with a laptop, a mini hi-fi and a bursary, while all other contestants received laptops and certificates.
The MEC for Finance who heads the Financial Literacy Association, Ina Cronje said she wanted finalists to ensure that this contest did not end there. “Go back to your schools and make this a living programme. As a country, we are in debt. Unlike our tertiary students, you are in a fortunate situation in that you don’t have debts yet. This programme will help you avoid making the same mistakes that many of us have made when it comes to managing finances,” she concluded.