Gwarube proud of SA learners after winning continental spelling bee

The Minister of Basic Education, Siviwe Gwarube, has welcomed the Africa Spelling Bee Championship trophy from six learners who won it for South Africa at the continental championships.

The young South Africans spelled their way into the history books at the 8th African Spelling Bee in Harare, Zimbabwe.

The ceremony, which was held at the Education Department in Pretoria, celebrated the learners’ outstanding achievement and highlighted the country’s progress in promoting literacy and academic excellence.

Gwarube says the winners have made them proud.

“This is the cream of the crop, and we couldn’t be prouder of them. But ultimately, my dream is that every single South African child should be able to read for meaning at the very least, but also that we take some of these competitions all the way to our public schools, particularly our Quintiles one to three schools. We are very encouraged, in fact, by what we are seeing. That 66% of bachelor passes came from our Quintiles one to three schools.”

Addressing the champions directly, Minister Gwarube said:
“A huge congratulations to our Team South Africa Spelling Bee champions! Your hard work, dedication, and brilliance make us proud. Literacy opens doors to endless possibilities, and you are proof that our children can soar… pic.twitter.com/d2mv6akHsH

— Dep. Basic Education (@DBE_SA) April 9, 2026

Their victory is not just about spelling difficult words, but also about discipline, confidence and a love for languages.

Thirteen-year-old Mbulelo Tolom says preparing for the competition took commitment, research and many hours of reading beyond the classroom.

“It was through hard work, and we had to always look for words on the internet because there was no fixed word list. So we had to use our own time, spare time, going through the internet, possibly using AI to our advantage to find words. But not only to memorize words, but word etymology and origins like that. So it was all about reading and making sure that you did your research in order to perform well.”

For the 13-year-old Ashton Singh – the journey was driven by the desire to inspire others and prove that dedication can push young people beyond their expectations .

“I’d say the main thing is effort – just the determination to go home each day, if you’ve had a long day at school, just to go home and study, to push that extra mile. That’s mostly thanks to motivation you get from others. For example, when I win stuff and I’d go home, or if I go to school, there’d be people congratulating me, saying they want to be like me, and that motivates me to work harder and be a role model for them. So I had to put in the work.”

Organisers say this year’s competition was especially significant, with learners getting tested on words from across the African continent – making the challenge even tougher.

“We also testing learners on words from the rest of the continent. That for me was probably the biggest step we took as the African Spelling Bee. And as you say, Nigeria has really been a strong winner of the team competition for the last few years, and South Africa beat them by a very small margin. Also Zimbabwe, Botswana, Malawi, Ethiopia, Uganda – very, very strong teams. And so I think from a continental perspective, not just from a South African perspective, it was very encouraging to see the level of literacy across the continent,” African Spelling Bee CEO, Roger Dickson eleborates.

Their next stop is China in July – continuing their journey as stars of literacy and spelling excellence.