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NATIONAL SCHOOLS MOOT COURT COMPETITION
RULES
2015
www.schoolsmoot.co.za
The Fifth Annual National Schools Moot Court Competition for Grade 10 and 11 learners from all secondary
schools in the nine provinces of South Africa will be held in August and September 2014 in the provinces
and in October 2014 in Pretoria and Johannesburg as indicated in the Project Document.
1.
1.1.
Eligibility, Selection and Participation
School Eligibility
Participation in the Schools Moot will be open to senior learners who are in Grade 10 or 11 in 2015 (or other
grades with permission of the organisers) from all secondary schools in South Africa.
1.2.
Team Eligibility
Participating schools will be required to select their teams. Team members are to be chosen by a fair and
transparent method approved by the responsible authority within the school.
Learners who have participated in a previous Schools Moot Court Competition in the oral rounds
(national or provincial) will not be allowed to participate a second time.
If there are more than two learners interested at a particular school, one method to select the team would
be to conduct internal elimination rounds at the school concerned where interested learners argue the case
in question. Alternatively, a school may appoint learners who have the ability or potential – as demonstrated
in debating and speech competitions, for example – to form their team. In the case of co-educational
schools there should preferably be one male and one female team member. The registration form should
be submitted to the organisers by 31 May to the provincial or district coordinator.
Moderate extensions will be given to schools who contact us in this regard. It is the school and teams
responsibility to enquire and confirm that the registration form was received by the organisers.
1.3.
Team Selection
A team consists of two members from a single school. The same two students who registered at the outset
must participate throughout the competition. A team member who cannot compete due to circumstances
beyond their control may be substituted at the discretion of the Competition Organisers.
A team member who has participated in the schools moot before will not be allowed to participate a second
time.
2.
Language
The language used for this event will be English for communication and the essay rounds. The participants
will be allowed to argue in any of the 11 official languages for the preliminary provincial, semi-final, and final
rounds. The use of any of the official languages in the oral rounds is subject to the finances of the
organisers and participants will be informed prior to the rounds whether they will be permitted to argue in
their preferred language.
3.
First (Essays) Round
The first round will be in written format. Learners will be expected to write two short essays (between two
and four pages each) setting out the opposing sides of the fictional case that has been set and submit this
to the organisers (provincial or district coordinator) by 1 July 2015 .
4.
Teams Invited to the Provincial and National Oral Rounds and the Final Oral Round
The essays will be evaluated by a panel of experts according to the Memorials Scoring Sheet (see Annexure ‘A’),
and the best nine submissions in each one of the nine provinces will be identified – a total of 81 teams.
The best nine teams per province will be invited to participate in the provincial oral rounds in the provinces.
The provincial oral rounds will be organised and funded by the Department of Basic Education in the nine
provinces.
At least four non-former model C schools per province will be placed in this number.
The four teams in each of the nine provinces with the highest scores will then be invited to send two
students and an educator to the national oral rounds from 8-11 October 2015 in Pretoria.
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The two provincial winning teams with the highest scores will compete against each other to determine an
overall winning team in the final oral round.
5.
Sequence of arguments and time allocation
The ‘applicant’ team argues first, where after the ‘respondent’ team argues, and if time was reserved for this
purpose, the ‘applicant’ team may then reply to the ‘respondent’ team’s arguments.
5.1.
Time Limits
Provincial, national and final oral rounds: 20 minutes per team. For the ‘applicant’ team, the 20 minutes
includes the time they may wish to reserve for their reply. The reply may not exceed 3 minutes.
Both team members must argue. One oralist may not use more than 12 minutes.
Any of the judges may at any time interrupt a team member with questions regarding his or her arguments.
Teams are partly judged on how they respond to these questions. The judges may, in their discretion,
provide team members with extra time to compensate for time taken in the asking and answering of
questions from the judges.
6.
Confidentiality of team identity
The Competition Organisers assign a number to each team at the start of each of the rounds. For the
duration of each of the rounds, each team may only be identified by that number. The identity of teams
taking part may not be disclosed to the judges until the winners of the provincial rounds are announced or
the winner of the final is announced during the national rounds.
7.
Scoring
Scoring will be done in accordance with the official “scoring sheet” (see Annexure ‘C’). The two short
essays written for the first round can be used but the teams are not bound to the argument in their essays.
Teams are judged on their oral presentation only.
8.
Interpretation of the rules
Any dispute that arises during any of the preliminary rounds or final round of the Competition that concerns
interpretation and application of these rules, or the general administration of the competition, will be
resolved by the Competition Organisers.
All decisions of the Competition Organisers concerning questions of rules, interpretation and application are
final.
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9.
Disqualification and Penalties
The Competition Organisers have the power to disqualify a team if a team violates any of
these rules or infringes on the spirit of the competition.
The Competition Organisers have the power to impose penalties, in the form of
subtractions from the marks awarded, not exceeding 20% for each separate violation of
the rules or infringement on the spirit of the competition.
Judges may propose disqualification or penalties, but these measures will only take effect
once they are endorsed by the Competition Organisers.
Complaints pertaining to alleged violations of the rules or infringements on the spirit of
the Competition must be submitted to the Competition Organisers within 15 minutes of
the completion of the round in which the alleged violation occurred.
10. Dress Code
Learners must wear their school uniforms for the duration of the Competition.
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