Amakhosi salute high school learners
Amakhosi salute high school learners

Posted in News on Nov 27, 2002.

In another first for South Africa's premier soccer brand Kaizer Chiefs, together with the Gauteng Department of Education, several high school learners will have a lot more to celebrate this December apart from their much anticipated year end results, with over a R100 00.00 worth of prizes to be won.

Sixteen high schools from disadvantaged communities, who participated in a creative "mock Amakhosi magazine" competition launched earlier this year will know on Wednesday, 4th December if they are the winners of the coveted first prize. The stage for the festivities is set for the Rand stadium as the venue of choice from 2pm until 5pm just before sunset.

It must be said that for more than 6 months learners who participated in the competition have been eagerly waiting to hear the final results of the competition, but as club PRO Putco Mafani explains the December event couldn’t have been more appropriate after much frustration with the postponement of fixtures originally planned to coincide with the event.

"We are quite thrilled that at the door steps of the much anticipated summer holidays we are able to stage this wonderful event. At first we wanted to link it with one of our big games as an incentive to the learners but after many changes to our fixtures we decided against it. It is now going to be like a year-end bash for the pupils, courtesy of Amakhosi," said an enthusiastic Mafani.

The event will bear testimony to what can be achieved through collaboration. The partnership between the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) and Kaizer Chiefs is an indication of the fact that the education and the crafting of a child cannot be the sole responsibility of the education department. Other sectors of the community have an important role to play. The competition ties in well with the department’s Social Plan Programme, with the motto It takes a village to raise a child, that encourages learners to discover and hone their artistic skills.

An adjudication panel comprising of delegates from the GDE, Kaizer Chiefs management, Full House publications (publishers of the Amakhosi magazine) and sponsors, spent hours and days going through the works of the learners in a grueling exercise of looking for the best Amakhosi magazine made by pupils.

The competition was structured in such a way that apart from the main prize which will be given to the winning school for the best Magazine, there are many categories which will provide an opportunity to make almost everyone a winner; they include 'Best Cover', 'Best advertisement', 'Best "My School" article' 'Best HIV/Aids article' categories and many more.

Chairman of Kaizer Chiefs, Kaizer Motaung says: "We are humbled by the amount of creative work that has gone into the submissions by all schools. It is also a demonstration of the amount of passion and love these kids have for our club and the Kaizer Chiefs brand.

"This kind of investment in the education of our children should be encouraged and sustained so that many more corporates can be attracted to come and participate. I wish all of these learners the best and hopefully they will have many reasons to celebrate when their year end results come out. Our partners in the GDE have been awesome with their work and I wish everyone a merry Christmas and a prosperous 2003."

Prizes in this project includes R20 000.00 to the winning magazine courtesy of Standard Bank, 3 Acer Vertron computers to the value of R30 000.00, Nike soccer kits & soccer balls, merchandise, Sony Music tapes, Cash prizes for the different categories from Hollard, Yfm, Nestle’, Iwisa, Energade, Damat & Tween, Jet Therapy, Nissan, British Airways and Reliable Music Warehouse.

The Family Day is a day of celebration, motivation & fun for everyone. The day will consist of a prize giving ceremony combined with lots of dance and music from Yfm DJs, Mzekezeke and Sony Music artists Jakarumba, Mawillies and Alaska.

The over 700 school pupils will also have the opportunity to meet and be motivated by their role models such as the Kaizer Motaung, the Kaizer Chiefs players, Andile and many other artists, TV personalities and DJs. It’s a celebration of our Youth and an occasion to give them direction & inspiration.

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