Pan African Universities Debating Championship

Pan-African Universities Debating Championship (PAUDC) is the biggest intercollegiate debate championship in Africa, established in 2008 by the University of Botswana Debate Masters Association. PAUDC is held in the British Parliamentary debate format (involving four teams of two people in each debate).^[1][2][3]

Pan African Universities Debating Championship

Established	2008
Region	Africa
Format	British Parliamentary Style
Number of Teams	~80-150
Record participation	~145 teams (2012)
Current champions	University of Cape Town
Most championships	KNUST (4), University of the Witwatersrand (3), University of Cape Town (3), Rhodes University (2)
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The 2021 edition of the PAUDC was the 2nd edition to be held virtually as a result of travel restrictions and other issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The virtual tournament was hosted by the University of Botswana Debate Masters Association in Botswana under the theme, “Channeling the roots of African Debate.”^[4][5][6]

The current PAUDC champions are Menzimuhle Ncube and Providence Nhongo of University of Cape Town.

The 2025 Edition and the 17th Edition of this tournament, will be hosted in Johannesburg, South Africa at the University of the Witwatersrand^[7] and has been slated for the 1st - 8th of December 2025.

History

The OSI African Regional Office and the Youth Initiative partnered with the Pan-African Universities Debating Championship (PAUDC) organizing committee and the University of Botswana to organize the first-ever Pan African Universities Debating Championship in 2008 to provide students from various African universities the opportunity to interrogate issues of African and Global importance.^[8][9]

Format

The championship is usually held in eight days. It usually takes place in the first two weeks of December and is being hosted in a different country every year

The PAUDC structure is the British Parliamentary (BP), made up of four teams of two, with two teams supporting a motion, and two teams opposing. Debating teams are independent and compete with each other.

The competition involves nine preliminary rounds, which become "power-paired" as the tournament progresses, matching the strongest-performing teams against each other. The process of scoring and pairing these teams is known as "tabbing". The scoring of teams is done by judges, most of whom are students or former students from the competing institutions, who then return "ballots" with their scores to the adjudication team, led by a Chief Adjudicator who is assisted by one or more deputies.

At the end of the debate, teams are ranked from 1st to 4th.

The team names are as follows. Opening Government (OG), consisting of the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister; Opening Opposition (OO), consisting of the Opposition Leader and Deputy Opposition Leader; Closing Government (CG), consisting of the Government Member and Government Whip; and Closing Opposition (CO), consisting of the Opposition Member and the Opposition Whip.

The speaking order is Prime Minister, Opposition Leader, Deputy Prime Minister, Deputy Opposition Leader, and so forth.^[10]

List of tournaments

Year	Host City	Hosting Institution	Winning Institution	Final Motion	Best Speaker	Winning team
8-14 December 2008	Botswana, Gaborone	University of Botswana	Won by the University of the Free State, South Africa
12-18 December 2009	Botswana, Gaborone	University of Botswana	Won by Rhodes University, South Africa[11]	GF: THW abolish all limits on immigration.[12]
4-11 December 2010	Namibia, Windhoek	University of Namibia	Won by University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
4-11 December 2011	Zimbabwe, Bulawayo	Falcon College	Won by the University of Pretoria, South Africa	THW have the African Union take over all peacekeeping duties in Africa
9-15 December 2012	South Africa, Pretoria	Tshwane University of Technology	Won by the University of Cape Town, South Africa		Mighti Jamie [13]
November 29- December 8, 2013	Nigeria, Calabar[14]	University of Calabar	Won by the University of Cape Town, South Africa
4-12 December 2014	South Africa, Polokwane	University of Limpopo[15][16]	Won by the University of Botswana, Botswana	INFO SLIDE[17] THR Kim Kardashian's recent photoshoot.
8-17 December 2015	Ghana, Accra	University of Ghana[18][19][20]	Won by University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg		Mighti Jamie [21]
9-17 December 2016	Zimbabwe, Gweru	Midlands State University	Won by University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
7-15 December 2017	Cameroon, Buea	University of Buea	Won by Midlands State University, Zimbabwe[22]		Minenhle Nzana [23][circular reference]
8-16 December 2018	Tanzania, Dars es Salaam	University of Dars es Salaam	Won by Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)[24]
8-16 December 2019	Ghana. Kumasi[25]	Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology	Won by Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)[26][27]		Adekunbi Ademola [28]	Micheal Ampah and Erasmus Mawuli Segbefia
14-20 December 2020	Virtual	Makerere University and Royal Rhetorics	Won by Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)[29]	This House Believes That judicial systems should more harshly punish people found guilty of committing crimes against members of social groups who experience disproportionately high rates of violence regardless of that offender’s intent (i.e. women, ethnic minorities)	lindokuhle Mabaso and Dan Lee	Kojo Opoku Acheampong and Abena Achiaa Otuo
09-12 December 2021	Virtual	University of Botswana	Won by Rhodes University (South Africa)	THW, as the African Union, Grant members of the 6th Region economic and Political Rights	Sodiq Farhan	Franciscus Crouse and Oyisa Katshaza
08-15 December 2022	Nairobi	Strathmore University	Won by Veritas University (Nigeria)	THBT that the AU should recognise the statehood of Somaliland	Elisha Owusu Akyaw	Ayafa Tonye, Edwin Ochiedo
03-11 December 2023	Lome	Universite de Lome	Won by Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)	Champagne socialism refers to a form of socialism where a group of rich/upper class individuals advocate for a fair society where everyone has equal rights and the rich people help the poor. THW promote champagne socialism in Africa	Prosper-Michael Ametu and Umuhairu Teni Alhassan	Prosper-Michael Ametu and Umuhairu Teni Alhassan
15-22 December 2024[30]	Kampala	Kyambogo University	Winners, Debate: University of Cape Town, Public Speech: Kyambogo University	THR the decline of Ubuntu in African Communities.	Debate: Michelle Adika & Alec Becky, PS: Onyait Churchill.	Menzimuhle Ncube & Providence Nhongo.
1-8 December 2025[31]	Johannesburg	University of Witwatersrand	To be determined	To be determined.	To be determined.	To be determined.
December 2026[32]	Abuja	Veritas University	To be determined	To be determined.	To be determined.	To be determined.

See also

• World universities debating championship
• Literary and Debating Society (NUI Galway)