ENTERTAINMENT NEWS - Miss South Africa Top 9 finalist, 24-year-old Eastern Cape-born Qhawekazi Mazaleni, wants to help young children get to grips with learning how to read and count in their own language.

This she says is in keeping with the evidence that early education in your home language is most successful for overall learning and development.

At the same time, she wants to create an environment that is conducive to job creation.

Her campaign initiative is in line with the Empower Youth Africa (EYA) programme that has been introduced by the Miss South Africa Organisation as an impact driven concept which will drive the development of strategies dealing with areas of critical need in South Africa.

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The Top 9 finalist has already written and published a children’s book in isiXhosa that teaches children to read and count.

Mazaleni, who is fluent in isiXhosa, English and Afrikaans and learning Sepedi and isiZulu, says empowering the youth in Africa is crucial for the continent.

The finale will take place at Sun International’s SunBet Arena, Time Square, Pretoria this coming Saturday, 25 October and will be broadcast live at 19:00 on Mzansi Magic.

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