By KABELO KEMP

The Ahmed Kathrada Foundation’s essay writing competition will now see the top three winners receive cash prizes over and above laptops.

The top writer will receive R5000, followed by R3000 and R2000 for the second and third best essayists respectively.

The closing date for the essay writing competition has also been extended to Mandela Day to mark Madiba’s centenary. Topics for the competition remain: A future free of racism; Tolerating racism is racism; and Root out racism.

The cash prizes are sponsored by the foundation.

The Ahmed Kathrada Foundation Director, Neeshan Balton said: “We hope that the laptops would be a valuable resource which the three winners can use for school or university work and develop their writing skills. The winners can determine how best to use the cash prizes themselves too.

“Apartheid, colonialism and slavery have had an immense impact on the psyche of the nation. It certainly affects current day experiences and perceptions of diversity and race in the country. South Africa’s youth were born in a country free of legislated apartheid and were dubbed the born-frees.”

Balton further said this does not mean that racism, or the negative impact of apartheid has ended. He also provided several examples of racial incidents in the last few weeks alone in South Africa.

“Just recently, a Pam Golding properties agent was called out on social media for declining to rent out a property of a white client, supposedly because the client only wanted white people renting their property. Then, we had the incident involving actor Rajesh Gopie, who referred to violent soccer fans at the Nedbank Cup semi-finals as “baboons”.

“There was also the case of business executive Mark Lamberti, who referred to an ex-employee as a “female employment equity candidate”. We’ve also read reports of investigations into allegations of racism at UNISA,” Balton said.

He added that more recently, there was a video of former Springbok player, Ashwin Willemse alluding to racial issues within the sport. Balton said the competition will make a meaningful contribution in their quest to deepen non-racialism.

“We hope this will make a meaningful contribution towards working for society free of racism, sexism and discrimination. We hope to involve young people in the fight against these problems. The foundation also aim to give young people a voice and a platform to articulate their views on matters that are undoubtedly key to our progression as a country and as a continent,” he said.

• To enter the essay writing competition, submit your essay to: email: youth@kathradafoundation.org ; fax: 011 852 8786; or post: P.O. Box 3240 Lenasia 1820.

Entrants must be between the age of 15 and 21 years. The essay should be a minimum of 1000 words and maximum 1400 words and can be in any one of the South African official languages. Essays containing plagiarism will be disqualified. Only one essay per entrant is allowed. For more information, contact on 011 854 0082.

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Picture: North West MEC of Education and Sport Development department, Sello Lehari 

By BAKANG MOKOTO

The African National Congress (ANC) in North West condemned the atrocity that took place at Stella High School in Stella, near Vryburg on Saturday.

Two female learners were allegedly hanged at the school hostel. The lifeless bodies of Marna Engelbrecht (17) and Sharnelle Hough (16) were discovered by the police after being informed by the hostel matron, who found the first body.

The ANC acting provincial secretary, Sussana Dantjie said: “The ruling party is devastated by the tragic death of two teenage girls. It is alleged that the girls aged 16 and 17 and both in Grade 11 were found by the hostel matron hanged on the rails of the staircase of the hostel, while the second one was found in the bathroom.”

Dantjie said they strongly condemn this barbaric action of men killing girlfriends or wives, which now appears to be a daily occurrence in the society. She further said the struggle for equality in society is far from over if the country continues to have these brutal acts.

“These acts are going to delay us in achieving the national democratic society that is non-sexist. We urge the department and the police to fully investigate this matter to get to the bottom of these actions.

“We also want to applaud the police for that speedy action. We encourage our communities to turn out in numbers to support the school and the families of these girls in calling for justice to prevail,” Dantjie said.

The Portfolio Committee on Basic Education said is also saddened and outraged by these double murders. Committee Chairperson, Nomalungelo Gina condemned femicide and any form of violence against women and children.

According to police, the alleged perpetrator was formerly involved in a relationship with one of the girls.

Gina said: “Surely our young men cannot be thinking that this is a way to address challenges. Furthermore, the gruesome manner in which these young girls were killed is truly shocking.

“It has been reported that one of the girls was found hanging from a staircase by the matron at the school, while the body of the second girl was later discovered with a rope around her neck in the bathroom. They were 16 and 17 years old.”

She praised the police for the speedy arrest of the suspect and appealed for speedy justice for the girls. Gina added that they will ensure that justice is served speedily.

Meanwhile, the accused, Zander Bylsma (19), who is a former learner at Stella High School, briefly appeared at Vryburg Magistrate’s Court. Bylsman was remanded in custody until 6 August 2018 for formal bail application.

North West MEC of Education and Sport Development, Sello Lehari is set to visit the families of the victims in Stella on Tuesday at around 12pm. The department spokesperson, Freddy Sepeng urged learners to speak-up if they come across any bullying at their schools.

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