Mbali Mavundla

Nominee's Province:
Gauteng

Age:
29

Project Name/Description:
Kids On The Road_Junior Driving Manual

More info:
https://web.facebook.com/juniordrivingmanual

Two months ago Mbali Mavundla published a ground-breaking road safety book aimed at learners, proving that writing remains a powerful tool of disseminating knowledge. Although the Kids On The Road_Junior Driving Manual is primarily aimed at learners between Grade R and Grade 7, it is still applicable for high school and ABET curricula. The idea is to familiarise learners from a young age with the ins and outs of road safety rules. The benefits are twofold: they will use the road carefully, and it will make it easy for them to remember the rules of the road when they eventually go for their driver’s licenses. “Enforcing formal education in the process of obtaining a driver’s licence, and making this book part of the curriculum would mean we have skilled and knowledgeable motorists on our roads who are conscientious at a primary school age,” says Mavundla. “The book is a more sustainable approach to targeting the next generation of road users. Introducing road safety concepts through schools would also mean that we end the corrupt acquisition of driver’s licences.” To write this ground-breaking book, Mavundla tapped into her journalism training, and it took only two months to understand the underlying philosophy of K53, the standard manual used in South Africa to acquire a learner’s and driver’s licenses. “The K53 is a pretty intricate book, especially at first glance. The biggest challenge in this project was translating the K53 to these young kids.” The book costs R250 and is distributed through PEP stores and The Book Circle Capital Bookshop in Melville, Johannesburg. In her spare time, Mavundla, a passionate lover of literature, dabbles in poetry and content creation for social media.