Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma has congratulated the South African winners of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) 2015 Media Awards and schools competition.
Two South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) journalists Dennis Tshetlhane and Sam Msibi walked away with the Television Category of the SADC Media Awards.
A South African high school learner, Imbelani Matibe, won the SADC Essay School Category Competition with her essay titled "SADC Strategy for Economic Transformation: Leveraging the Region's Diverse Resources for Sustainable Economic and Social Development through Beneficiation and Value Addition".
Matibe is a Grade 11 learner at Thengwe High School in the Vhembe District, in the Limpopo Province.
Tshetlane and Msibi jointly won US$2000 for their story of mine workers from SADC region who are owed money by a provident fund in South Africa. Matibe won herself US$750 and a laptop.
“It is indeed fulfilling to share in this great moment for our country. I would like to congratulate all three winners on behalf of government and all the people of South Africa. They have done exceptionally well and have represented South Africa well!" said a proud President Zuma.
The awards aimed at promoting excellence in the different fields of Journalism, serve as a link for coordination and synchronization between formal structures of SADC member states and media were conferred by the outgoing Chairperson of the of SADC and President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, at the 35th SADC Summit currently underway in Botswana.
Botswana and Malawi won the remaining two of the four awards.
The Chairperson of the South African Chapter of the National Adjudication Committee, Livhuwani Mutshatshi, also congratulated the two South African winners.
"On behalf of the National Adjudicating Committee (NAC) and the Government Communications and Information System (GCIS) we would like to congratulate Mr Tshetlhane and Mr Msibi for flying the South Africa flag. These awards are important in promoting regional integration.
“It has been an exciting and interesting time for the NAC adjudicating the awards on behalf of GCIS and we are looking forward to celebrate the milestone," Mutshatshi said.
GCIS Chief Director for Media Engagement, Themba Sepotokele, encouraged all members of the media in South Africa to continue to cover stories relating to SADC countries to promote regional integration and to enter the awards.
"While celebrating these achievements, we call of the media owners, editors and journalists to participate in the awards as soon as we launch the 2016 SADC Media Awards. The awards are meant to encourage journalism excellence in the region," Sepotokele said. – SAnews.gov.za
