The Northern Cape Department of Transport, Safety and Liaison has selected the best five orators to represent the province at the National Road Safety Debate to be held later this month.
The five learners were the cream of the crop amongst their 25 grade 10 and 11 peers from rural and urban schools from across the province. The learners engaged in thought-provoking debates around Road Safety during the Northern Cape Provincial Road Safety Debates.
Pixley Ka Seme District obtained first place during the provincial debates while Francis Baard District secured second place as the debates unfolded on Saturday, 6 September 2013 in Upington.
The competition to highlight the cream of the crop in the debating arena of schools debating was a collaboration between Department of Transport, Safety and Liaison and the Department of Education.
Misheck Nkosi from Pabbalelo School in Upington said the competition was a learning curve for him.
“The competition was great and taught me a lot. I've learned how to analyse issues and think out of the box. When I was debating with my fellow debaters I discovered that we need to stand up as young road users in contributing towards the reduction of road fatalities,” said Nkosi.
Although Wangalethu Falata from De Aar high school in De Aar found the competition challenging for it helped impart some knowledge.
“The competition was very challenging but I prepared for the competition. One Important thing that I've learned is that anything that we want to achieve is possible. As young people we can fight the road accidents and positively contribute on the success of the decade of action of Road Safety which was the topic used in the final road.”
These young brilliant minds where selected from across the province from various communities following league debates hosted in their various regions.
The aim of the debates was to empower the learners to think about road safety and become road safety conscious. The debates will further aim to help sharpen their analytical thinking, encourage team work and research skills while building their public speaking confidence.
Although the learners are not yet of age to become license holders they have the power to meaningfully contribute towards road safety amongst our communities and one day become responsible drivers.
This effort is also encouraged to curb the number of road fatalities while in some cases it’s a loss of breadwinners in homes and children.
Debate topics:
- Will South Africa reduce fatalities by 50% by the year 2020 as per the Decade of Action in Road Safety?
- Is the use of social networks the solution to road safety awareness?
- Are young novice drivers the main cause of road crashes?
The department continuously works to intensify road safety education to ensure it reaches all areas of the province. Learners are no exception to the efforts of our department hence this broad search to engage some of the best speakers and minds in the province.
For any enquiries contact:
Keitumetse Moticoe, Communication Officer
Cell: 074 251 6567 or 082 064 7003
