Environment awareness competition launched by Deat

DEPUTY Minister of Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Rejoice Mabudafhasi, has announced that sixth graders from all schools in the country are invited to participate in a competition where the pupils have the opportunity to win prizes to the value of R100 000 for their school. The project, which is a global environmental initiative, is a collaboration of the Department of Environmental Affairs & Tourism (Deat) and USAID, among others. According to Mabudafhasi, these provincial competitions will be held on different dates: in the Free State, Northern Cape and North West on September 14, the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu Natal on September 21 and Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Limpopo on September 28. She said that the winning team from each province would then compete for the prize of R100 000 in prizes for their school at a ceremony to be held at the Golden Gate National Park near Clarens in the Free State during the weekend of October 18. "It is important to get children and communities to take part in awareness programmes, we need to promote all environmentally friendly activities. Any school regardless of where it is and its available facilities will be able to compete." (Adéle Mackenzie)