Zimbabwe crowned world champions at the 2022 International Moot Competition in Netherlands
The Zimbabwe National High School Moot Court team was recently declared the champions of Europe Moot Court, becoming the first team to win International Moot Court and European Moot Court champions back to back in less than 30 days.
The competition is intended for high school learners and is aimed at encouraging an engagement with international (criminal) law. It is open to learners from all countries and is hosted in The Hague, Netherlands.
The team of eleven consists of nine girls and two boys who were selected from different schools around the country.
Ruvimbo Simbi captained the team which conquered Africa and earned the ticket to represent the continent in Europe, where it then conquered the world.
The Africa contest was held virtually while the world contest took place at the European Moot Court competitions in Romania.
This came after President Mnangagwa pooled national support for the high school students, and led the way by donating to them US$30 000.
Team Zimbabwe faced off the Netherlands in the finals after going against Scotland as prosecution and Poland as Defense last week.
The Zimbabwe National High School Moot Court Team made history after being crowned World Champions at the 2022 International Moot Court competitions held in the Hague, Netherlands recently.
In the tournament which comes after every two years, students get a chance to engage in real life arguments in court where they will get a hypothetical case, and they are allocated sides either as prosecution or defense. They then make arguments before a panel of judges.
Nqobile Dube, who is the Zimbabwe Moot Team head coach and a lawyer by profession, said the team left nothing to chance and had been preparing for a month.
“We were confident that we would make the nation and Africa proud. The team had extensive training and were ready to go through the gruelling eleven days set for the competition,” Dube said.
Dube added that they got valuable assistance from practising lawyers in Zimbabwe.
The students were selected from different schools around the country. Apart from teach coach Nqobile Dube, some of the team members include Palesa Sigauke, Kuziva Khuleya, Hazel Chiige, Tadiwa Choto, and Chiyevo Mukonoweshuro.
Meanwhile, President Mnangagwa took to Twitter and congratulated the team, saying they inspire not just the Presidency but the nation and Africa as well.
Yibanathi Nhlakanipho has 6 years experience writing and curating verified entry-level jobs, internships, bursaries and career resources for South African youth. Every month, her articles on Scholarly Africa reach at least 1 million job-seekers.
