Rwanda students in the University of Johannesburg in South Africa won the first prize during the annual cultural performance organised on heritage day. Rwanda came 3rd last year. This year 25 countries participated namely South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Mozambique, Nigeria, Gabon, Somalia, Greece, Rwanda, Burundi, France, USA, Turkey etc. Activities judged by the eminent panel ranged from stall decor, traditional cuisine and outfits and dance performances. Rwandan students took top spot one followed by Angola and Somalia respectively. A panel of judges from the UJ Internationalization Division invited professionals for each category that was formed to assess and select the best performance in each category, basing their judgments mostly on the originality, motivation, attractiveness and the beauty in each category. The judges gave prizes to the first three winners in each performance category and the first three winners overall. The Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Johannesburg, Prof Ihron Rensburg, gave a keynote address highlighting the richness of diversity and how important international students were for the University of Johannesburg. Rwanda has 30 students at the university both in graduate and postgraduate programs including masters in bio chemistry, engineering, mathematics etc. The event was attended by more than 5000 people from the academia, government, diplomatic missions etc. The Rwandan students in collaboration of the Rwanda High Commission prepared well and on time hence becoming the overall winner on stall decoration with traditional art crafts, documentation on the country status food and outfit and definitely the graceful dance took the day.
