Five secondary schools from Vosloorus, including Ilinge, Erasmus Monareng, Thuto-Lesedi, Vosloorus Comprehensive and Lethulwazi Secondary Schools, participated in the categories of drama, public speaking, dance, poetry and singing.
The theme of the day was ‘Creating future leaders in a safe environment’.
Vosloorus SAPS, the Department of Community Safety, the Department of Social Welfare, Rand Water, SAB, Eskom and the Gauteng Liquor Board were among the role players that contributed to the success of the day.
Gauteng Department of Community Safety MMC, Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane, and Gauteng Traffic Police spokesperson, Busaphi Nxumalo, were also present.
All the learners provided top entertainment with their constructive messages against the use of drugs.
Wiseman Langa, CPF project coordinator, said most crimes are committed by people who are under the influence of drugs.
“So we want young people to stay away from drugs. That is why came up with this competition,” said Langa.
Thabang Mashiya from SAB corporate affairs said there is more to SAB than just selling liquor.
“We run programmes within SAB like ‘Future Leaders’ whereby we look for young people who have faced liquor problems and help them if they want to change their lives around.
“We also run a programme called ‘Be the Mentor’ whereby we link former alcohol abusers to mentors. We also bring mentors to school to teach young people about the danger of alcohol and substance abuse,” said Mashiya.
He said SAB partners with NGOs to teach pregnant women about the effect of alcohol during pregnancy.
“People believe that if you drink alcohol while pregnant, you give birth to a healthy baby. That is just a myth. A child will have a problem when he or she starts school because you gave them alcohol while their mind was not fully developed,” said Mashiya.
Brig Themba Denge, station commander at Vosloorus SAPS, said they have experienced an increase in crime involving drugs.
“We have realised that most of the drug users are the youth. So we had to do something as Vosloorus SAPS to help parents so that they can help their children.
“We are also parents, so we can’t fold our hands and do nothing,” said Denge.
He said they will continue with such programmes to help the community.
The competition runner-up was Vosloorus Comprehensive School.
Learners from Tuto-Lesedi Secondary School won the competition, beating last year’s winners, Vosloorus Comprehensive School. They took home the first-prize trophy as well as the floating trophy.
Learners who gave performances that especially pleased the judges were:
*Amanda Ngcobo, Thuto-Lesedi Secondary School – Best Poetry
*Tiisetso Nyaredi, Thuto-Lesedi Secondary School – Best Public Speaker
*Bongane Motsotso, Erasmus Monareng Secondary School – Best Actor.
Also Read: Thuto–Lesedi Secondary welcomes matric class of 2017
