Minister Marias announces #Slam4urlife winners on Youth Day

The Slam4urLife competition, coordinated by the Western Cape Government Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport, in partnership with Community Chest, FunDza Literacy Trust, Assitej South Africa and Harambee concluded yesterday, June 16 Youth Day.

Over 1 000 entries were submitted. The competition has shown that South Africa is bursting with youth talent – from dancers to comedians, from newscasters-in-the-making to rappers, and from skilled artists to worthy wordsmiths.

The competition has given young South Africans a platform to explore and share the impact of Coronavirus on their lives. In the run-up to the final, there were four sets of ‘heats’ in which a total of 36 winners have won airtime across the three categories: Text, visual and video. These 36 winners were put forward to a panel of eminent judges to decide who the top three winners in each category were. The judges had a hard time deciding as we had so many powerful submissions, reports campaign manager Sophie Joans.

Minister Marais, Minister of Cultural Affairs and Sport, and Lorenzo Davids, CEO of Community Chest announced the winners at a Live facebook event yesterday. “We have seen how comfortable people are with words, creativity and music,” commented judge Lorenzo Davids from Community Chest.

“It is evidence of a powerful and strong generation”. “You just know that our future is in good hands with our youth. The submissions were so refreshing, so hopeful”, added Minister Marais.

All three winners were overcome with emotion at the news that they had each won a laptop.  

The first category was visual art which included graphics, drawings and cartoons. Well done to Sibusiso Lee Mokoena, a 19 year old from the Free State, who won this category with his powerful pencil drawing of a child wearing a mask against the backdrop of Covd-19 activity. The drawing was inspired by a photograph of a baby without a mask taken by a friend.

The finalists in the written word category were outstanding, creative and filled with hope. Well done to the winner Olwethu Cloe Ngcobondwane, a 23-year old visual arts student at CPUT, for her moving love poem, penned in the middle of the night. It captured the emotion of these times so eloquently. She will be using the laptop to start writing her novel.

The final category, video, again produced powerful commentary. The winner in this category was 14 year old, Yollande Tshimanga, for her TikTok submission on how to banish Covid-19. She received the competition from her teacher at Jule High School in Johannesburg. Yollande was happy and speechless about winning and will be using her laptop to write a novel and do her school work.

The judges concluded the event with a message for the youth: “You might not have been a winner today, but this is just the beginning. Don’t stop doing what you doing.”

Minister Marais ended the event feeling hopeful about the future and said, “I love the creativity and inspiration, and have high hopes for the future.”

The three video finalists works can be found on:

Covid comes to visit TikTok - Yollande Tshimanga

Spoken word video poem "Today I woke up" - Zuko Sikhafungana

Sanitizer in taxi sketch - Aphiwe Qhama Menziwa