Winners of a recent competition were rewarded when they got to meet their heroes Nelson Mandela and Albertina Sisulu.
Sept 23, 2008 – Twelve learners from across South Africa, who were winners in a competition about Nelson Mandela and Albertina Sisulu, met their two heroes at an awards ceremony in Johannesburg.
The learners, ranging in age from six to 18, won prizes for their creative expressions in honour of the two struggle stalwarts in their 90th years. Mr Mandela turned 90 on July 18 this year and MaSisulu turns 90 on October 21.
Two of the competition’s categories (for learners in Grades R to 3 and Grades 4 to 6) were to design birthday cards for Mr Mandela or MaSisulu. Learners in Grades 7 to 9 were asked to write a song or a poem and those in Grades 10 to 12 wrote an essay analysing the contribution of Mr Mandela and MaSisulu to South Africa.
The competition was funded by the Royal Netherlands Embassy, which was represented at the ceremony by Ambassador Rob de Vos.
The learners travelled from around South Africa and were treated to a tour of Soweto as well as the visit to Mandela House in Houghton.
A delighted Mr Mandela and MaSisulu shook hands with each of the winners. When Mr Mandela asked Saudah Hashim, a Grade 6 learner from Verulam Islamic School in KwaZulu-Natal, “When you are as big as me, what do you want to do?”, a proud Hashim said “President”, to hearty laughter from Mr Mandela.
“We received well over 2 000 entries,” said Thandi Lewin, Chief Director of Equity for the Department of Education. “It was part of a broader programme around values.” A supplement called Values Mate focusing on the importance of values was placed in various newspapers and included the winning entries.