The Sunday News
Rebecca Nyathi Sunday Leisure Reporter
A TOTAL of eleven institutions from all over the country participated in the Debate Open Challenge at the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) which was won by Nompilo Nkomo and Abel Nxumalo.
According to one of the organisers of the three-day debate challenge, Tatenda Muzaminda, the Debate Open Challenge (DOC) is a youthful engagement platform that was founded on the ideals of using open debate spaces to nurture leaders and shape thoughts of the future.
DOC is a tournament where debating institutions and individuals get an opportunity to engage with each other in dealing with real life situations that affect the world while giving students a leading role in organising the event.
“Debate is a vital tool to change perceptions and developing critical thinking youths. This year’s debate open challenge was running under the theme giving the youths a voice. The challenge was founded in 2014 and the inaugural tournament was held at Lupane State University that same year and this year was held at Nust,” he said.
Great Zimbabwe University, Belvedere Technical Teachers’ College, Morgan Zintec, Lupane State University, Joshua Mqabuko Polytechnic, Midlands State University, Bulawayo Polytechnic, Catholic University of Zimbabwe, University of Zimbabwe, Harare Polytechnic and National University of Science and Technology are the institutions that participated. However, only four made it to the finals, Nust, Lupane State, Midlands State and Catholic University.
These four are expected to partake in the Southern African National Universities championships in South Africa in two months time.
More than a hundred students participated in the debate challenge, but Nompilo Nkomo from Lupane State University walked away with the accolade for being the best female speaker and best overall speaker while the best male speaker was Nxumalo from Midlands State University. These two crushed their opponents under seven political and general topics.
According to Muzaminda, the debate challenge was not for Zimbabwean institutions only, they tried to reach out to some institutions outside this country.
“The debate was for everyone, which is why it is called Debate Open Challenge. We tried to reach out to those institutions of our neighbouring countries such as University of Namibia, Botswana and many more. However, we managed to get a Professor from Germany and others from Botswana. Those professors were our judges,” said Muzaminda.
