At 14 years of age, Zameer Dada, a Grade 8 pupil at Sacred Heart College has been crowned the first-ever African Champion Orthographer on 20 July in Newtown.
He was the last speller standing, making history for South Africa and Africa with his feat as the winner of the inaugural four-day continental competition. Dada beat 26 other finalists, three from each country who are its best spellers.
South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria and Ethiopia participated in the spelling competition, represented at the apex of a total of five million pupils across Africa who participated in the various elimination stages of the continent-wide competition.
The intention of the competition is to encourage a love of words and an enjoyment of reading among young children.
Danielle Khoury, Dada’s English teacher, was full of praise for the young star. “Although he is soft-spoken, Zameer shows a mastery of the English language every day in class. It comes as no surprise that he has achieved 100 percent on every spelling test, but it must also be said that he is an engaged and insightful learner in class with a range of new and exciting ideas around any topic that we cover,” said Khoury.
On winning the award, Dada said he was delighted and hopes his achievements will help inspire the rest of the pupils to work hard. “It was a very tough competition because everyone there was the top speller in their respective countries,” he reflected.
Dada encouraged other pupils who would want to participate in the competition to read more and make use of a dictionary. “If you want to win something you have to try hard and you must not give up if you do not do well the first time,” were his sage words of advice.
Lindokuhle Mhlanga from the Mzansi Spelling Bee team said, “The sensational logophile, Zameer Dada has hit poll position for two consecutive years, 2014 to 2015… ultimately representing South Africa by winning the first Africa Spelling Bee [competition]. He has been with Mzansi Spelling Bee from 2013 and we have seen tremendous growth in him.”
Organisers of the African Champion Orthographer say they are working towards greater participation and the inaugural competition is one way to celebrate the African child.
