News24 | WATCH | Sassy 6-year-old wows with money savvy speech

Thuto Mako, 6, of Mamelodi has been awarded the top prize in the Financial Sector Conduct Authority's Financial Literacy Speech Competition in the Grade R category.

• Thuto Mako, 6, from Mamelodi has wowed audiences with a speech about how to save money.
• His cheeky, no-nonsense guide to frugality – along with sassy hand gestures – has won him fans across the country.
• Thuto recently won the pre-school category of the Financial Sector Conduct Authority’s competition for financial literacy speechmaking.

A six-year-old has wowed audiences with his speech about how to save money, which has won him an award from South Africa’s financial regulator.

Thuto Mako, who is in Grade R at Legora Primary School in Mamelodi East, won the pre-school category of the Financial Sector Conduct Authority’s (FSCA) Financial Literacy Speech Competition.

His cheeky, no-nonsense guide to frugality – along with sassy hand gestures – has won him fans across the country.

In his speech, delivered in Sepedi, Thuto shares his attitude to spending:

”Think first before you spend!”

He is saving money in a money box to buy a bicycle, which “requires a lot of money”.

In a later part of the speech, Thuto reveals that he’s not inclined to share his money with his friends – instead, he buys first and shares what he bought.

“You choose to either be a money slave or be a money master. Choose wisely: I am saying, choose wisely!”

Thuto first won the district round of the FSCA competition, which is aimed at Gr R pupils in Gauteng, before eventually winning the top prize.

Meriam Tsholo, who is his teacher in the Grade R Orange class at Legora, says she loved coaching him: “He is always a very happy boy. And very active.”

His mom, Thandeka Mako, describes her son as a “big talker”, who holds his own with his older sister, who is 11.

Thuto does drama at school and was not daunted by the big audiences he had to face during the competition:

In October, he delivered his rousing speech at the finals of the FSCA’s main competition for financial literacy speeches, aimed at Grade 11 pupils, held at a hotel in Cape Town.

More than 7 000 pupils from hundreds of non-fee-paying schools took part in the competition, which demanded that they showcase their knowledge of money management and personal finance. They gave their insights on topics like investing your allowance, and how to make money from side hustles.

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Khanya Kasa from the Eastern Cape won the competition, earning R80 000 in investment prizes and a tertiary study bursary worth R580 000.

The second and third prizes went to Lerato Masakale from the Western Cape and Lerato Maduna from the Free State.