The province's top adult education achievers for 2011 received awards during a function held at the Kutama Sinthumule Correctional Centre (KSCC) a fortnight ago. The learners, who also included inmates at the prison, were honoured by the Limpopo Department of Education's Adult Education and Training (AET) section.

Some 20 achievers received trophies and certificates during the function. A prisoner at the KSCC, Zachariah Ncube, managed to attain six distinctions in AET level 4. His impressive results secured him the prize as overall best learner at the institution. Ncube worked very hard in the past years and had to start from Special Education (equivalent to Grade R) and work his way up to level 4.

Mrs Mavis Mathonsi (37) received the award as the best learner in the Vuwani Circuit Cluster. She managed to obtain six distinctions in her exams last year. She studied at the Mutangwa Manugu Learning Centre in Tsianda. “The award will motivate me to further my studies now,” she said. She plans on studying further in auxiliary nursing.

The stakeholders who had come to witness the achievement by the prisoners and civilians included delegates from the Makhado Municipality, local chiefs, the Limpopo Department of Education and an internationally acclaimed gospel artist, Winnie Mashaba.

In his motivational speech, Dr MP Mulaudzi said that the first thing that education should do was to equip the individual with the capacity to identify and solve problems using critical and creative thinking skills. “The White Paper clarifies that the right to basic education is a legal entitlement which every person has a claim to,” he said. “Then it's up to every individual to claim it.”

KSCC's educational flagship, Thusano Centre, was declared the best centre in the Vhembe District for 2011.

The gospel artist Winnie Mashaba told inmates and guests that she is currently a full-time AET learner in the Capricorn District. “I am on Level 4,” she said. “I had failed to enter matric, due to personal problems in 2001, but I think this is my second chance to achieve my goal of having some education now.”