The elections are around the corner, and the buzz about South Africa’s future is real. Imagine grabbing a coffee with our nation’s leader. What would you say?

Light Up Your Thoughts! Essay Prompts:
Heart & Home: Share what you adore about South Africa and the unique aspects of your community that make it special.
Let’s Get Real: Identify two or three significant issues or challenges your community faces.
Detective Mode: Reflect on the possible reasons behind these problems. What’s your perspective?
Calling the Shots: If you had the power, what initiatives or changes would you suggest the government implement to address these challenges?
Community Power: Imagine ways your community can rally together to instigate positive change. What support or resources would be beneficial?
Thinking Cap ON: Innovate! Propose creative yet feasible solutions or strategies to tackle the issues you’ve highlighted.

Write an essay of between 500 and 700 words describing what you love about where you live, as well as about the problems you have picked and how to begin solving them.

Give your essay your unique title.

Tips for good essays
Make sure you structure your essay carefully with a beginning, middle and end (often, you will only be able to work these out once you have spent lots of time thinking and writing. And you don’t have to follow the structure above – it may be that you want to end off with what you love about your country and community. It’s up to you!
Make sure you divide your essay into paragraphs.
Think of specific and concrete solutions rather than generalisations for both the positive and negative aspects of what you describe – e.g. if for your problem you say that more money must be spent on education, you need to break this down – what should the money be spent on? Why? What effect will this have? Make sure you refer to your community’s needs in particular.
Check your spelling, grammar and punctuation so the essay is easy for the reader to follow.

Age limit: 13-25 years
Dates: 1 November 2023 – 12 January 2024
1st – Prizes:s R2500
2nd – R1500
3rd – R850
Plus Fundza branded goods for all winners

Click here to enter the Dear Mr President Challenge.

Terms and Conditions
The Promoter of this competition is The FunDza Literacy Trust (FunDza), with the registration number IT814/2011.
Entrants to this competition agree to abide by these Terms and Conditions.
To qualify as an entrant into this competition, you must:
* be a South African citizen or permanent resident in the Republic of South Africa;
* be between the ages of 13 (thirteen) years and 25 (twenty-five) years
* Reside in the Republic of South Africa during the Competition period.
Entrants below the age of 18 years must have the consent of a parent/guardian/competent person to participate.
Entrants may only submit their own original and previously unpublished work.
FunDza may disqualify any entry it deems unoriginal, or that contains plagiarised text.
Only one entry is allowed per person. Entries submitted on behalf of someone else will not be considered, and joint submissions are not allowed. Only complete, illegible, misdirected or late entries will be considered. The first completed entry submitted by any entrant will be deemed to be a valid entry.
The competition begins on 1 November 2023 and ends on 12 January 2024. All entries must be received by 23:59 (SAST) on 12 January 2024. The Promoter accepts no responsibility for any entries that are incomplete, illegible, corrupted or fail to reach the Promoter by the relevant closing date for any reason. Entries via agents or third parties are invalid.
All entries must be on time to be accepted.
Winners will be notified by 24 January 2024.
Winners will be notified by telephone, SMS or email. If a winner DOES NOT respond within 24 hours, they will forfeit their prize, and the Promoter will choose a new winner by random selection from the remaining valid entries.
Winners will be announced publicly within 14 days of the closing date. The Promoter, acting reasonably, retains the right to delay the timing of the publication of the winners of the competition.
The winners will receive the following: 1st Prize – R2500; 2nd Prize- R1500; and 3rd Prize R850 plus Fundza branded goods for each winner. All goodies bags are sent via PAXI. If PAXI returns any uncollected goodie bags to FunDza, we will not resend them to the winners
The prize is not transferable and, if not taken up for any reason, may be forfeited or be the subject of a separate draw or be allocated at the Promoter’s discretion to another winner.
Winners may be announced on the FunDza mobisite, Moya Messenger app, FunDzApp (FunDza’s Android app), Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, or any other ‘FunDza’ space.
Entrants agree that if selected as a winner, they will supply FunDza with a recent photograph and other personal information about themselves as required for publicity purposes and further consent to such photograph and personal information being published in the public domain. Winners may ask us, in writing, to remove their names or refuse to participate in any publicity.
This competition is not open to any director, partner, employee of the Promoter, or members of their immediate family.
The Promoter will not be held liable for any technical failure that may cause your entry not to be submitted or where the Promoter does not receive your response required in terms of point 9 above.
The Promoter, its directors, members, partners, employees, agents, consultants, suppliers, contractors and sponsors assume no liability whatsoever for any indirect or consequential loss or damage arising from an entrant’s participation in this promotional competition or for any loss or damage, howsoever arising (whether arising from negligence or otherwise). The prize winner indemnifies the Promoter for any loss, damage, harm or injury (whether arising from negligence or otherwise) that may be made against the Promoter by any third party (including but not limited to suppliers or any other third parties) in connection with this promotional competition and the accompanying terms and conditions.
These terms and conditions can only be reasonably changed (or superseded) by us on a written revision to these terms and conditions posted on this competition page.
The Promoter reserves the right to terminate this competition immediately and without notice. In the event of such termination, all entrants agree to waive any rights they may have regarding this competition and acknowledge that they will have no recourse against the Promoter.
South African laws govern this competition.
Entrants understand and agree that to offer the competition, the Promoter must collect and use personal information about them.
By entering the competition, entrants are providing personal information via surveys. These will be analysed for research purposes, and all results will be aggregated and de-identified.
In the event of a dispute on any aspect of this competition or the terms and conditions hereof, the decision of the Promoter will be final and binding on all aspects of this competition and no correspondence will be entered into.
Any violation or attempt to violate any of the terms and conditions by an entrant will result in the immediate disqualification of the entrant.
All information relating to this competition and published on any promotional material will form part of the terms and conditions of entry.
Queries regarding the competition can be directed to info@fundza.co.za
By participating in this course competition, the entrant acknowledges that they have read and understood these terms and agree with them.
Any person who has won a FunDza competition in the last six months is disqualified from entering the competition.