Youngster wins slam poetry competition
The winner of the Ekurhuleni Slam Poetry competition was crowned on October 9.
Thanduxolo Mkhaliphi (19), from Vosloorus, is the new Ekurhuleni Slam Poetry champion.
In Wattville on Friday, October 9, Thanduxolo and 30 other poets from Ekurhuleni performed poetry in all of the official South African languages.
“I always enjoyed writing short stories with the hope that they’ll make it onto radio. When that did not happen, I ventured into poetry where my writing skills gelled well with my oratory ability and today, it has yielded remarkable results,” said Thanduxolo.
The youngster walked away with a classic microphone and R10 000 in cash.
The contestants were judged on the basis of word choice, content, voice projection, stage presence and audience response. The top five performers each received R10 000 and a gift from the City of Ekurhuleni.
“The City of Ekurhuleni is passionate about the advancement of young people through education and thus, we encourage all youth to make it a habit to visit libraries, to read and hone their communication abilities for it is guaranteed to open the doors of success,” said Clr Dora Mlambo, the Ekurhuleni Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture.
The Slam Poetry finals marked the beginning of the City’s OR Tambo Month celebrations which will be taking place until November 1.
