Three months after Mandela Day, when 6 000 learners from all nine provinces in South Africa, as well as Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Zambia, participated in a #Coding4Mandela event, the lives of even more young people have been transformed through coding.
The Mandela Day event, which was hosted by the Nelson Mandela University Computing Sciences Department and the Leva Foundation as part of their engagement project known as Tangible Africa, introduced offline coding to primary and high school learners from diverse backgrounds, in an effort to create more awareness about coding.
The flag ship event took place at Mqhekezweni attended by Ndaba Mandela (grandson).
Today – three months later in the village of Mqhekezweni, where former President Nelson Mandela grew up, one young man is nervously excited about his future career prospects. Litha Mthayi,18, is a matriculant at Jongintaba Senior Secondary School and has a dream of pursuing a BSc in Computing Sciences at Nelson Mandela University next year. He met Prof Greyling on Mandela Day and asked guidance regarding his future, after which the Tangible Africa team assisted him to apply. Should he continue to get the required marks, there is a possibility that he may realise this dream with a bursary.