Johannah Mashego from Kopanong Secondary School in the Limpopo Province, emerged as the best oralist during the Grand Finale of the 2025 National Schools Moot Court (NSMC) Championship, held at the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg on 12 October 2025. This is after the respondent team led by Mashego presented a convincing argument to a full bench of Constitutional Court Judges and other Judges from the different High Courts who were expected to rule over a school admission policy matter filed as part of the 2025 NSMC problem statement.

The NSMC problem statement involved a case of Thando Khumulo, who attended an English-medium primary school and applied for a Grade 8 space at Zebra High school and Veld High School, which are both Afrikaans-medium schools. Both schools are the only public schools in Thando’s feeder area. Although Thando timeously submitted her application for processing, both schools still turned down her application, citing sections of their respective admission policies, which provide that their medium of instruction is strictly Afrikaans, and only learners with Afrikaans as their home language or who are fluent in Afrikaans would be eligible for admission. After appealing the matter with the Gauteng Department of Education, the HoD in the moot case instructed the school to review their admission and language policies to include English as a medium of instruction and offer isiZulu as a subject by 2027. The HoD also instructed Zebra High school to admit Thando and other children who might have been excluded based on its admission policies.

In the implementation of the South African Schools Act (SASA), as amended by the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Act of 2024, schools are expected to admit learners and provide education without unfair discrimination of any kind, according to the DBE. However, with reference to the recent problem statement argued through various stages of the NSMC, which commenced at the district level all the way to the National level, the implementation of the Act requires a reasonable interpretation before an admission application can be turned down. The Championship saw various teams selected from each province clashing for the top spot during the preliminary sessions conducted at the University of Pretoria in the Gauteng Province from 9 to 11 October 2025.

Following the outcome of the preliminary session, two teams, consisting of four learners as Applicant and another team of four, presented as Respondent, battled for the championship tittle during the NSMC Grand Finale.  The Championship is a learner-centered oral and debate initiative implemented by the Department of Basic Education (DBE), in partnership with the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and the South African Human Rights Commission, targeting learners in Grade 8 to 10. The Championship enables the DBE and partners to promote constitutional literacy, human rights and social cohesion amongst learners.