This year's #Coding4Mandela event, hosted by coding education company Tangible Africa, attracted 32 000 young participants from across Africa and Southeast Asia.

The participants, operating from sites in Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Indonesia, coded simultaneously on Mandela Day – July 18.

“I challenged the team to reach 30 000 youth with the #Coding4Mandela event in honour of 30 years of democracy in South Africa. I am happy to announce that we conservatively reached 32 000 young people, all thanks to the team who worked hard to make it happen,” says Tangible Africa founder and Nelson Mandela University Computing Sciences Department head Professor Jean Greyling.

“Our vision is to make the #Coding4Mandela movement an annual, national event in South Africa. Some of the participating schools this year had all their learners participate in various coding activities including the 'Rangers' game,” he says.

Few online resources are needed to play Tangible Africa's coding games, namely Rangers, Boats and Tanks, to develop twenty-first-century skills by learning through play, he adds.

The event also included a fun and, as it turned out, popular activity called the Madiba Jive, with more than 70 schools and organisations sending videos of their #Coding4Mandela dance.

“Teachers, learners of all ages, parents and even some police officers joined in the fun by performing their #Coding4Mandela song and dance across the continent; from dusty roads, school halls and classrooms,” says Greyling.

Further, the yearly event also inspired participating schools. For example, the response to the event at the Voorpos Primary School, in East London, from students and staff was positive, which has encouraged the school to take further steps in educating pupils in this field, says Voorpos Primary School Coding and Robotics and Culture head Tilana Fourie.

“This was a first for our school and learners because of constraints such as lack of funding and resources regarding coding and robotics,” she says.

“Even though we are facing barriers and constraints to fully launch this project, we made sure learners could participate and we gave almost 800 learners an opportunity during six hours of #Coding4Mandela,” she notes.

The Voorpos Primary School choir performed the Madiba Jive accompanied by marimbas.

The #Coding4Mandela event also inspired learners. Grade 8 learner Cwenga Yose, from Nyanga High School in Ngcobo, in the Eastern Cape, arrived early for the event and started organising the learners for coding.

Yose is the captain of his coding group, which took first and second place in the Mandela Day tournament at his school.

Meanwhile, the partners from Kenya, Mozambique and Uganda also reported great success at their events.

“The Coding4Mandela tournament was monumental, not only for the schools and learners, but for parents as well who witnessed their sons and daughters critically and brilliantly tackling challenging levels with ease, and having fun. Many parents and teachers were inspired and ready to support their children,” says Tangible Africa Uganda facilitator Abdallah Aziiz.

The #Coding4Mandela movement started with a handful of learners in Gqeberha in 2018, reached 6 000 youths in 2022 and 16 000 in 2023.