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By Lebone Rodah Mosima
South Africa topped the team standings at the 8th African Spelling Bee, beating Nigeria into second place and Zimbabwe into third, while KwaZulu-Natal’s Ashton Singh finished runner-up in the junior division of the continental literacy competition.
The result marked another strong continental showing for Team South Africa at a championship that brought together national spellers from across Africa in Zimbabwe this week.
In the junior division, Nigeria’s Oluwadamilola Adeolu took first place, followed by Ashton Singh of KwaZulu-Natal in second, and Nigeria’s Abdurrahman Yusuf in third.
In the senior division, Rwanda’s Daniel O. Adesiyan won, with Zimbabwe’s Bree Kambasha second and Malawi’s Nicole Manguluti third.
Contestants were tested on words drawn not only from English but also from 21 African languages, in line with the competition’s aim of being “a truly African spelling bee, rather than simply an English spelling bee in Africa”.
Words such as griot, Moshoeshoe and Ouidah tested competitors on spelling, pronunciation and African cultural knowledge, the event organisers said.
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The African Spelling Bee was founded in 2016 by 10 spelling bee organisations from across the continent. It markets itself as a pan-African literacy and education initiative focused on academic excellence, linguistic diversity and cultural exchange.
South Africa’s participation was supported by the Department of Basic Education, which runs its own national spelling bee as part of its literacy programme for schools.
“We are deeply grateful to the Department of Basic Education for their continued partnership and commitment to advancing literacy through the Spelling Bee programme,” Roger Dickinson, chief executive of the South African Spelling Bee, said.
Musa Zulu, assistant director in the Reading Directorate, said the team had impressed both in performance and conduct.
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“I am very proud of the team, not only for how they performed on stage, but for how they represented South Africa. They were a true reflection of our excellence and diversity as a nation,” he said.
Dickinson said the result was a stepping stone to the next international stage.
“This is not the end of the journey for this team. The next step is to represent South Africa at the World Spelling Bee Championships, set to take place in Shanghai, China, in mid-July 2026,” he said.
