Chronicle Editor
Langalakhe Mabena
The Zimbabwe national debate team has been crowned champions of the Dutch schools debate tournament.
The tournament was held virtually from May 28 to 30 with The Netherlands playing hosts.
A total of 50 teams from over 20 countries participated in the annual tournament with Zimbabwe and South Africa being the only African nations. Team Zimbabwe was represented by Menzimuhle Ncube who is the captain (St Columbus High), Muvaki Nhlema (St Georges College), Providence Nhongo (St Georges College), Bongani Bryan Dube (Mtshabezi High School) and Methembe Mthimkhulu (Mzilikazi High School).
Maison Maphosa who is based in Australia was the team’s head coach. Team Zimbabwe emerged as the champions of the tournament after defeating Singapore in quarter-finals, Germany in semi-finals and Romania in grand finals.
Nhlema was announced the best speaker of the tournament. Ncube was the fourth-best speaker while Mthimkhulu was announced the ninth-best speaker of the tournament. Coach Maphosa who is also founder of the Royal Pact Debate Academy (RPDA) was over the moon after their win.
“I started coaching the national team in 2020 and wanted to create a young team that would win big for the nation and write their names in history books. After winning the championships, I felt content as this was a sign that our hard work was finally paying off,” Maphosa said.
He added that this win was only the beginning as they intend to participate in and win more international debate tournaments.
Ncube said the team is happy for the win and will continue representing the country well.
“This is a great achievement for the team because this was the first time that the Zimbabwe national debate team won something this big.
After being crowned champions, we promise not to relax as we want to continue working hard so as to be recognised as giants in Africa and the rest of the world.
“We’d also like to appreciate our head coach. Ever since he came on board, he’s been very involved in our build-up activities. We owe a lot to him because without his guidance, we wouldn’t have been able to achieve this much,” said Ncube who is doing his Advanced Level studies at St Columbus.
Online Reporter