The Sunday Mail
Enock Nyambo
In an exceptional intellectual verbal skirmish staged at Prince Edward School on Friday 24 June 2016, Maranatha Christian High School team retained the (NASH) National Association of School Heads Senior Debate Harare province trophy. The gentleman with the funny blue blazers” saw nothing funny about the issues under discussion and triumphed over Allan Wilson and Highfields High 1 to seize the much coveted award. The Championship is an annual national English Language debating tournament for senior high school-level students and Maranatha has booked a date for the national championship for the second consecutive time. The favourites, 2013 and 2014 champions, ZRP High School was eliminated in the semi-finals by Highfields 1. The juniors version was claimed by Lord Malvern High School. Gloag High School in Matabeleland North is to host the national finals on 6-7 October 2016.
Commenting on the results outcome, the ZRP high school senior debate patron, Mr T Chimhuwa said, “ZRP lost because the other teams had prepared more than us and their victory makes the competition healthy.”
The overjoyed Maranatha Christian High School debate patron Mr J Mrewa observed, “to reach this milestone in debate, success has come to us as a process not an event. The team attested to the basic principles of research and paying due diligence to the details of the motions under review.”
The Maranatha team comprised the deadly combination of the reigning national best speaker Cyril Dim (Jnr) who is a really powerful and probing speaker – great at unearthing enormous ideas; Anotida Zhou, on the other hand, was best at rebutting the opposing side’s claims and exploring in detail the arguments on the table. The two displayed truly amazing chemistry as they were consistently seen on the same page.
The motions for this year were abstract and therefore somewhat more difficult albeit giving all teams a debating plain field. For the semi-final, Maranatha was for the motion; “All men are born equal” and for the final, it was against the motion; “Man is evil by nature.” And, confirming the team’s determination, Cyril Dim (Jnr) affirmed, “As surely as the Cleveland Cavaliers did not stop last season after losing to Golden State in the finals, we haven’t stopped fighting ever since our crushing loss in the finals last year. We will not stop until the gold comes home.”
“More than a mere verbal or performance skill, debate embodies the ideals of reasoned argument, tolerance for divergent points of view and rigorous self-examination.
Debate is, above all, a way for those who hold opposing views to discuss controversial issues without descending to insult, emotional appeals or personal bias. A key trademark of debate is that it rarely ends in agreement, but rather allows for a robust analysis of the question at hand,” Ms Tsitsi Muketiwa, one of the adjudicators quoted the dictates of the International Debate Education Association as she gave feedback to the audience and speakers after the final debate session
Written by Enock Nyambo Cell: 0773 243 003 Email: [email protected].
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