The Chronicle
Langalakhe Mabhena
The Zimbabwe National Debate team wrapped the year on a high note after they managed to impress at this year’s South Africa National Schools Debating Championships.
For the tournament, team Zimbabwe sent a single juniors’ team and three seniors’ teams to represent the country.
All the teams broke into the elimination rounds on international division. The junior team which comprised
Shumirai Chigadza (Peterhouse Girls), Lindani Ncube (Gifford Boys), Munesushe Mushosho (Peterhouse Girls) and Pamela Moyo (Star Leadership Academy), ended the tournament on position two. They lost the finals to Era Debate Academy from South Korea.
All speakers from the junior team were in the top 10 International junior speakers tab, with Chigadza in second position, Mushosho, Ncube and Moyo on position five, seven and 10 respectively.
On the senior division, Zimbabwe was represented by three teams. Zimbabwe Yellow team comprised Karl Makahamedza (Midlands Christian College), Joseph Matanda (St Dominic’s Mutare), Nigel Mushayavanhu (Peterhouse Boys) and Joy Chauruka (Peterhouse Girls).
They ended the tournament on position four after losing the semi-finals.
Zimbabwe team Red was the only team that was able to defeat Western Cape and they ended the tournament on position two. They were made up of Raymond Moyo (DZ1 High School), Sharon Marangwanda (Midlands Christian College), Nokutenda Chimbetete (St George’s College) and Tadiwanashe Matara (Peterhouse Boys).
After facing a lot of issues during the tournament, Zimbabwe team Green eventually emerged as the champions on the senior division.
Menzimuhle Ncube (St Columbus) who was recently elected to be the Vice President of Zimbabwe National Junior Parliament, Mukudzeiishe Madzivire (African Leadership), Yun A Pak (Arundel School) and Hazel Chiige (Arundel School) made up the winning team.
Seven members of the senior debaters managed to make it to the top 10 speakers on the seniors’ international division with Mukudzeiishe Madzivire emerging as the best speaker.
Coach Maison Maphosa said he was impressed by the way his teams performed.
“The selected students are very intelligent and they have the potential to perform very well given that they started off by winning the international finals of South African nationals, making them the first Zimbabwean team to win such an award. I expect even better performances next year,” said Maphosa.
Article Source: The Chronicle