The Sunday News
Thobekile Khumalo, Sunday News Reporter
Hillside Teacher’s College debate team last week emerged as champions in the Zimbabwe Tertiary Institutions Debate Associations (ZTIDS) competition held at the United College of Education with 22 institutions from all provinces across the country taking part.
ZTIDS national president Mr Tanaka Manyadza said ever since the board’s inception in 2016 the debate competition has had a good turnout.
“The competitions have been on going from 2012 but since this board was formed in 2016 institutions have been responding so well, because we began with 12 institutions and this year we have 22 with only a few that failed to pitch up due to economic challenges,” he said.
He said this year the competition was running under the theme “Dialoging for innovations”.
“We came up with this theme because we saw it fitting into the education that is being mooted by our ministry,” he said.
He said last year’s champions were Gweru Polytechnic.
“Last year our champions were Gweru Polytechnic who then proceeded to Tanzania to represent the country and they even managed to proceed to the semi-finals which is a huge achievement for us because at that level they even compete with universities from all over Africa. This year Hillside Teachers’ College took the trophy and they will be proceeding to Ghana to represent us as Zimbabwe,” said Mr Manyadza.
UCE Debate president Mr Idries Chaibu encouraged tertiary institutions to take debate as a serious sport.
“We are happy that there are boards that have been formed like ZTIDS in order to govern debate because it had not been embraced as a sport for too long in the country. Students should take is seriously because it is a critical sport that does not only address relevant issues that need to be done but also grooms leaders that are critical in each and every aspect,” he said.
Hillside Teachers’ College debate captain Mrs Thenjiwe Gumede said they were happy to see that their hard work yielded good results.
“Over the years Hillside Teachers’ College Debate Society has proved their unequalled prowess but becoming national champions was ecstatic. The team had promised to bring the trophy home and with the diligence and hard work put in during preparations winning was no surprise. The debate team that broke to the finals comprised Mxolisi Masuku and Winston Mudhoni, our jewels of whom we are proud of.”
