South Africa topped the medals table with 12 gold, five silver and six bronze at the just concluded Southern Region Senior Championships in Gaborone, Botswana to reconfirm her leadership of the sport in the region.
The South Africans had an uphill battle against the hosts, Botswana, who finished in second place with 11 gold, 14 silver and 11 bronze medals.
Competition at the Championships was stiff and athletes from 11 countries took part.
The Championships proved that the standard in the Southern Region competitions was improving annually.
Several young South African athletes Patience Ntshingila, Caster Semenya and Luvo Manyonga produced good performances.
Patience Ntshingila won the gold medal in the long jump with a personal best distance of 6,37m (wind +1,2m/s) and also annexed the triple jump gold medal with a distance of 12,78m.
Caster Semenya cruised to victory in the 800m for women in a time of 2:06,97 while Luvo Manyonga improved his personal best in the long jump with a wind; assisted jump of 7,65m.
Other South African gold medal winners were Kagisho Kumbane (100m), Tshegofatso Meshoe (200m), Nombulelo Mkenku (100m), Janet Wienand (400m hurdles), Lebo Phalula (1500m), Boy Soke (5000m), men's 4x100m and the 4x400m relay teams.