Four students from the Central University of Technology, Bloemfontein campus qualified for two slots to attend and compete at the PAN AFRICAN UNIVERSITY DEBATING CHAMPIONSHIPS, which were held at Strathmore University, Nairobi Kenya.🇰🇪 Through merit and dedication, the institution selected these four students to debate at this tournament. PAN African university debating championships (PAUDC) is one of the most prestigious and largest tournaments in Africa, with over 62 teams, 35 universities and 10 countries. These countries include; Kenya, Rwanda,Tanzania, Nigeria, Uganda, Ghana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Togo, Botswana. One of our teams, Team CUT A consisting of two speakers, Kerapetsi Booi(left side) and Alex Manise(Middle right) broke to out-rounds, Quarter finals, and came 3rd in that round. Unfortunately, their journey at PANS ended there. Despite all the hiccups that existed through the arrangements of PANS, these individuals worked very hard to ensure that practices take place to better equip themselves
PAN Africanism was the main theme of this tournament. A theme to embrace our Africanism and form unity with our neighbouring countries.
The 2 speakers, Kerapetsi and Alex also competed for Public Speaking, and did exceptionally well. All of these speakers are novice speakers, a debate term we use to describe “newly developed” university debaters. PAUDC was a great experience and exposure for us. Besides all the formalities of debating and public speaking, we got a chance to experience a lot about Kenya🇰🇪 From the Food they eat, right through to their culture and history. Thank you very much to our institution for allowing us to reach our dreams and fly the CUT and South African flag high. Thank you to each and every speaker who took their time to learn and attend this tournament. It has not been an easy year, but we all made it through.
Mostly, deepest gratitude to our Heavenly Father for keeping us safe and making this trip possible.