Latest news with #Thandeka
The Citizen
03-08-2025
- Entertainment
- The Citizen
High School learners compete at the Readathon and Book Whizz
The Rand West City Libraries hosted its first combined Book Whizz and MobiReadathon Competition, providing learners with the opportunity to demonstrate their digital literacy and academic skills. The competition aimed to promote a reading culture and to introduce the use of technology as part of digital literacy. Programmes Librarian Thandeka Legae noted that this was the first time the MobiReadathon and Book Whizz were held together. Thandeka explained that the MobiReadathon is a reading development programme initiated by the City of Johannesburg Libraries. The Rand West City Libraries adopted the programme in 2024. Learners read stories using laptops, phones, and tablets, and they were introduced to digital tools for reading and information retrieval. This year, two high schools with 10 learners each participated in the MobiReadathon. Randfontein High School secured first place, while Hoërskool Westonaria came in second. With the Book Whizz, learners displayed their talent and ability to comprehend and communicate. Participants were given the same stories used in the MobiReadathon. The learners were assessed in categories including book review, impromptu reading, spelling, and debate. A total of six high schools took part in the Book Whizz, namely Randfontein High School, Hoërskool Westonaria, Ithuteng Secondary School, AB Phokompe Secondary School, Phahama Secondary School and Kgothalang Secondary School. Randfontein High's Edzai Mpukuzela claimed first place, while Asenathi Nondule from Hoërskool Westonaria secured second. Onkarabile Molifi from Ithuteng Secondary School worked hard to achieve third place. 'The combination of the two programmes was exciting. Learners learnt a lot from each other. Technology is taking over our lives. We must equip our learners with the necessary skills to adapt to the fast-changing world,' Thandeka concluded.
The Citizen
05-07-2025
- The Citizen
Prisoners share life lessons with Westcol students
Students from Westcol TVET College and staff from Rand West City Libraries recently visited the Krugersdorp Correctional Services to commemorate Youth Day. This was part of the Youth Month programme in which inmates engaged the visitors in a dialogue on matters affecting youth and men. While it was a first-time encounter for most of the visitors, it was business as usual for library personnel Thandeka Legae and Rosinah Ramaleba. 'Before the Youth Month programme, we visit the correctional services every Tuesday for an outreach to engage inmates in various literacy-related programmes, including competitions, debates and others,' said Thandeka. 'In most of our interactions with the inmates, they would express heartbreaking reasons for how they landed in the facility,' added Rosinah. Thandeka and Rosinah mentioned how impressed they were with the way inmates articulated themselves in subjects like the current inflation, the dollar-rand exchange, etc. 'This first-time outreach was more of a dialogue than a competition, and both the visitors and inmates engaged robustly and constructively.' Thandeka spoke of a touching moment where one inmate described how he had been incarcerated for 25 years due to bad decisions. 'It was also fascinating to have inmates clearly outlining the current socio-economic dynamics despite being incarcerated in a corrections facility on topics ranging from information technology to GBV to substance abuse and how they affect the social landscape.' At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
The Citizen
13-06-2025
- General
- The Citizen
FXB donates furniture for Grade R's
The organisations donated tables and chairs to Moruti Makuse Primary School and Jeremia Mdaka Primary School. Moruti Makuse Primary School is situated in Kwa-Guqa Extensions, and Jeremia Mdaka Primary School is in Vosman. The furniture was donated to help the Grade R learners, as they have noticed that the schools have quite a number of Grade R learners in one class. FXB is a non-profit organisation that has been breaking the chain of poverty for more than 30 years and in 14 countries. The organisation aims to provide support and tools to families with extreme poverty so that they can feel self-sufficient too. According to the coordinator of the FXB, Thandeka Skhosana, the handover was also a way of teaching learners to give back to the community, as they have several learners from the intermediate phase upward that they work with daily. The organisation offers after-school classes to the intermediate and senior phase learners at Moruti Makuse Primary School, and they also help them with homework. Therefore, the handover taught the older learners the power of giving by reminding the Grade R learners that they matter too. 'We don't want to see the children on the streets because they don't know what to do with their lives on their free time. We want to build them in a way that they will understand that even if they have just a little, they should think of those who have nothing,' said Thandeka. The handover was marked by hitting two birds with just one stone, as the host also surprised the learners with a play that reminded them that they should always appreciate the little things they get from other people. The handover taught them to appreciate and to give so that it can be given unto them as well. 'We no longer have an excuse for why the learners are still using one classroom now. We were not expecting what the FXB did for us, but we are really grateful. We can all imagine how it is having a lot of Grade R's in one class,' said Portia Malaza, the principal of Moruti Makuse Primary School. The learners thanked the FXB for their amazing gesture, stating that they are seeing all the great things that the FXB is doing for them. 'We are using the intermediate and the senior phase to remind the foundation phase that they should pour into the community that pours to them,' said Thandeka. The FXB stands firm when it comes to being the hand the community needs, as they also offer rehabilitation and disease awareness, including HIV/AIDS. The schools showed their appreciation to the FXB, and they are looking forward to achieving more together. Breaking news at your fingertips … Follow WITBANK NEWS on our website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or TikTok Chat to us: info@ At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
