News

George Library Services together with Southern Cape Department of Correctional Services officials recently went out to the communities and schools of George, Knysna and Plettenberg Bay to market the upcoming 9th Funda Mzantsi Championship to be hosted in George from 1 – 5th October 2018. A total of 94 book clubs consisting of school pupils and offendors will compete in this year’s Reading Competition in four categories namely: Reading, Debate, Book Review and Spelling Bee, in the 11 official South African languages. Over 900 spectators are expected to attend the week long event.

The Funda Mzantsi project was started as part of the National Library of South Africa’s (NLSA) mandate to promote a culture of reading amongst South Africans. The NLSA, through the Centre for the Book intervened by way of establishing book clubs in communities and schools and Correctional Services encouraged offendors to improve their literacy and educational levels via the establishment of such book clubs inside correctional facilities. As part of the marketing activation in early September, books were handed out to the communities visited by Correctional Services.

Photo 1: Gertrude Potts, George Library Services seen here with teacher and pupils of the Plettenberg Bay Secondary School.