“Mandela Day asked us to give 67 minutes of service, but is that really good enough?” asks Thea de Gruchy, the South African schoolgirl who won the Witness Nelson Mandela Schools Speech Contest. “Mr Mandela dedicated his whole life to our country and we have to be asked to dedicate just over an hour,” she continues.

 

The Witness Nelson Mandela Schools Speech Contest is an initiative started by a newspaper, The Witness, and the Pietermaritzburg municipality, in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, to get local high schools involved in talking about issues that concern them. This year, it was held on 21 September at Maritzburg College. The prize-giving was held on 9 October at the Tatham Art Gallery in Pietermaritzburg.

 

De Gruchy, a grade 12 learner at Wykeham Collegiate, entered because she is a debater and enjoys a challenge. “The topic I chose was ‘Mandela Day: 67 years of struggle, 67 minutes of service’. I chose it because I was able to relate to it and find an angle which I’m passionate about.

 

“People don’t do enough for their country, especially people in my [privileged] situation,” she continues. “I often hear people say ‘I’m going to leave South Africa because it can do nothing for me.’ There’s an ‘I’m too good for this place’ attitude which is not in the spirit of South Africa and Mr Mandela.”

 

De Gruchy believes that, if we are to carry on Mr Mandela’s legacy, people need to get rid of the attitude that South Africa owes them something.

 

“You aren’t owed anything,” she says. “It’s about what you can give back to your country.”

 

This is the approach she decided to take with her speech. De Gruchy finds that at a school level, many speeches simply tell you what you already know. They deal with the cause-effect relationship and leave it at that.

 

“I tried to take it to another level,” she says. “You have to say, ‘What does this mean for you and what should you actually be doing about it?’”

 

De Gruchy found the whole experience worthwhile as she was able to interact with people she’d never met who are the same age as her but at different schools.

 

“I enjoyed hearing their take on things,” she says. “I’m from quite a privileged school, so I found it very interesting to hear their take on what Mr Mandela’s legacy means. We are so wrapped up in our own little world that we don’t see things going on around us.”

 

She obviously draws considerable inspiration from that legacy, but she has her own take on it. “It’s great that initiatives like the speech contest are created in his name, but I maintain that the real way to honour him is not just doing things in his name, but carrying on where he left off,” she asserts.

 

As winner of the Witness Nelson Mandela Schools Speech Contest, De Gruchy was awarded a R10 000 cash prize and a custom-made medal.

 

 

Thea de Gruchy’s speech is available here as a downloadable pdf.