Rotary’s young Rojac winner receives R13k

Hoërskool Pietersburg (PHS) took the honours for the second consecutive year when Grade 11 learner Alida du Preez emerged as the winner of the Rotary Junior Ambassador Competition (Rojac) that was hosted by the Rotary Clubs of Pietersburg 100, Polokwane and Haenertsburg at Curro Heuwelkruin on Saturday.
Alida won the grand prize of R13 000, while Zoë Robertson of Hoërskool Ben Vorster and Koketso Senoamadi of Flora Park Comprehensive High School, respectively received prizes of R5 000 and R2 000 as winners in the second and third places.
The finalists were adjudicated by a panel consisting of Eileen Schofield, Leo Senekal and Marianne van Zyl and they had to present a prepared speech on ‘Do the medical benefits of marijuana justify its legality’. They all argued that the use of the substance should be legalised for medical use.
Their unprepared speech was on ‘Why I like South Africa’ and it became clear that the diversity of the country’s people was a plus point.
Rotarian Grant Daly fired twenty ‘sudden death’ questions to test the contestants’ general knowledge and they all knew which organisation sponsors the Rojac competition, being Rotary. None of the contestants, however, knew who Peter Mokaba was and obviously not being motor sports enthusiasts, none knew that the black prancing horse was the logo of Ferrari.
They also did not know that Portuguese is the national language of Mozambique and that Siya Kolisi is the captain of the Springboks Rugby Team.
Daly said that it was an honour for Rotary to host the competition and expressed the hope that the winners will put their prizes to good use. He thanked the participating schools for their interest in the competition and congratulated the finalists on their excellent presentations.

Story and photos: BARRY VILJOEN
>>barryv.observer@gmail.com