First time coders from Southfield library competed in a Mandela Day coding tournament. From left, are Caeden Hendricks, Michaela Hendricks, Noah Munnick, Connor Munnick and Cassidy Hendricks with librarian Ashleigh Wessels. Picture: Supplied
The Southfield Library Coding Club competed in the Mandela Day Coding Tournament held at several City libraries on Thursday July 18.
The event is part of a national #Coding4Mandela competition. This is the second year City of Cape Town libraries are taking part in #Coding4Mandela, and for the Mandela Day event, more than 400 participants from 28 libraries competed for a chance to represent the city in the next leg of the competition.
First-time coders from Southfield library’s Team CAT took fifth place in the southern suburbs library category and 11th across all public libraries, while Team The Codes came sixth in the southern suburbs library category and 14th overall. Both teams went through to a final round, which was to be held at Goodwood library on Wednesday.
The overall top performing team for the Mandela Day event was the Elsies River Tribal Chiefs, with the Belhar Rangers in second, and Team Yoh!, also from Elsies River, in third.
The participants in the tournament compete by playing two mobile games, TANKS and RANGERS, which introduce youngsters to coding concepts.
"By introducing coding at a young age, we can empower children with essential skills, creativity, and confidence to thrive in an ever-evolving digital world,“ said Southfield library’s senior librarian, Layla Swart.
“Coding develops problem-solving skills, develops collaboration skills, enhances digital literacy, prepares for future careers and fosters critical thinking and creativity by encouraging children to think outside the box, experiment, and bring ideas to life.
“I am beyond proud of our staff members, Ashleigh Wessels and Gafieldien Agulhas, who brought the coding project to life in a very short space of time,” Ms Swart said.
The coding club has 16 members who meet every Thursday afternoon. Leading up to the tournament, sessions were held three times a week to prepare.
“The kids have grasped the concepts really easily and when they find things that are more challenging they are determined to figure out and debug their codes. With coding being introduced officially into the school curriculum in 2025, they were eager to get a head start,” Ms Wessels said
From the finals of the library-level competition at Goodwood library, three City library teams will be selected to represent Cape Town in October’s national #Coding4Mandela competition, drawing teams from schools and various organisations across the country to compete for a chance to be selected for the world tournament held in December.
Last year, the final world tournament, held virtually, drew participants from Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ireland, Germany and America, and the three participating City libraries placed in the top 10.
To find out more about coding, visit your library or contact info@levafoundation.org.
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