#Coding4Mandela national winners announced
1 September 2025
After a successful #Coding4Mandela event during which over 50 000 learners participated in July, the virtual national championships took place on 28 August.
147winning teams from the different July tournaments competed in three age categories, using the brand-new Tangible Tournament app. Each team could play from their school, while results of their Tangible coding solutions were sent to the Tangible Headquarters in Gqeberha.
The winners in the different age categories were as follows:
Primary School
Stanger Manor Primary School, KwaDukuza, KZN
Grades8-9
Southlands Secondary School, Chatsworth, KZN
Grades10-12
Southlands Secondary School, Chatsworth, KZN
A squad of 48 teams from across South Africa was also announced. They will compete in the Tangible World Cup on 30 September, where 100’s of teams from over 25countries are expected to compete.
Background
Tangible Africa is an engagement project of Nelson Mandela University and the Leva Foundation, headquartered in Gqeberha. Very little online resources are needed to play their coding games, Rangers and Juicy Gems, to encourage the development of 21st century skills by learning through play.
“Our vision is to make the #Coding4Mandela movement an annual, national event in South Africa, preparing teachers and learners for the roll-out of the gazetted Coding and Robotics curricula,” said Prof Greyling, HOD at computing sciences.
Ryan le Roux, CEO of Leva Foundation, is driving the World Champs in collaboration with partners from 5 continents:
“Tournaments are one of three main components of Tangible Africa’s activities. The World Cup has now caught the attention of major role players. Furthermore, we run coding clubs in schools as well as
Lasting impact
“Although the numbers and mass scale participation are exciting, the real value behind this event is the impact it has on schools, teachers and learners”, said Prof Greyling. This ranges from a short “Thanks for the great event this morning ”WhatsApp from a learner in a township, to a matriculant who received a full study bursary from a Nelson Mandela University graduate.
This learner and his team have been achieving in tournaments since Grade 8, which convinced him to study a BSc Computer Science in 2026. Many schools are running coding clubs and various other coding activities after participating in previous tournaments.
Global digital connection
“From looking at social media posts by participating teams the past week, it is clear to us that the digital connection among learners from diverse backgrounds brought about by the nationals, have great added value. At the world champs, where part of the event is teams interacting via zoom before the tournament, this takes on an exciting global scale”, says Jackson Tshabalala, Global Engagement Manager.
Prof Greyling, Ryan le Roux and Jackson Tshabalala are currently touring Europe, where they are strengthening partnership relationships in 5 cities across 4countries.
“It is always amazing to see how excited educators on other continents are of an application that was developed in Gqeberha”, says Ryan le Roux
For more information on Tangible Africa’s ongoing coding support for teachers, email info@levafoundation.org.
