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The road to the Robben Island Spring School Competition continued as the KwaZulu-Natal Museum, along with M3 Digital Development Services visited Nkosibomvu High School in Tongaat for the second leg of the selection phase for team KwaZulu-Natal representatives.

A speech contest was held to determine the candidate to join team KZN in Cape Town. Given the topic, "𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚 𝐢𝐧 𝟏𝟗𝟕𝟔 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐝 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭. 𝐅𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐲 (𝟓𝟎) 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 (𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔), 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬, 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐲, 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐞," participating learners had to deliver a detailed speech outlining various strategies that today's youth may utilise to challenge the status quo and deal with the challenges they are currently facing.

Following an enlightening round of competition, Ziphelele Maphumulo took first place for her riveting and well-delivered speech. Uluthando Ncube finished in second place, while Akhona Sithole completed the podium in third place. The KZN Museum will now head to Mthwalume High School for the final selection phase to determine which lucky learner will join Sbongakonke Mtolo (Siqongweni Secondary School) and Ziphelele Maphumulo (Nkosibomvu High School) in representing team KwaZulu-Natal at the Robben Island Spring School Competition in September.

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Read all about the happenings of the month of June in our Newsletter

https://heyzine.com/flip-book/d03f795efd.html

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In celebration of Freedom Month, the KwaZulu-Natal Museum will be hosting a voter registration and information drive.

To be hosted outside the KZN Museum:

: Friday, 24 April 2026
: 10:00 – 15:00
: 237 Jabu Ndlovu Street, Pietermaritzburg

Members of the public are invited to come and register to vote, check their voter registration status, and engage with officials who will be available to answer questions related to the process. Please remember to bring your South African ID document to register or confirm your details on the voters’ roll.
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Join our iNaturalist Best Practices Webinar and learn how to photograph insects with confidence. This free online session is led by an arthropod specialist.Get simple, practical tips for taking clear, identification-quality photos. Learn what details to capture and how to submit strong observations. Perfect for beginners and enthusiasts. Build your skills and contribute to real biodiversity research.

Registration:
https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/4e227b3f-da98-46b4-af09-874851c8a41d@e230c99d-75c6-40eb-9bff-9ed6c06cccd5

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We recently had the pleasure of hosting Professor Pierfilippo Cerretti from the Sapienza University of Rome for one of the Museum's Tea-Time Talks. During this eye-opening talk titled, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence & Megabarcoding: A step change in the study of hidden diversity, Professor Cerretti spoke on the hidden world of flies and the technological revolution in taxonomy.

One of the key takeaways highlighted during the talk was the decline in the number of descriptions of new insect species by scientists. Professor Cerretti demonstrated through his own work that implementing technologies such as AI, robotics, and DNA sequencing can increase the rate at which researchers describe new species.

Read up on some of Professor Cerreti's work here: https://tinyurl.com/mruyckv7

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