Palesa transitions into next phase
In her first press conference since coming back from the Miss World competition, Palesa Molefe opens up about some of her most controversial moments abroad and her plans going forward as the reigning beauty queen.
The director of Miss Botswana, Benjamin Raletsatsi explains that: “There is a team that discovers, manages and gets us to miss world, when we come back they are now preparing themselves to discover the next Miss Botswana.”
That is why the team that handled Miss Botswana before the Miss World competition is absent at the press conference.
Molefe could not stop sharing how grateful she was to everyone for her experience.
“Growth comes from experience and embracing the journey that is life and it excites me that I am going to be taking on projects that excite me.” Molefe says this eagerly as she announced that her next step will be largely focused on launching her mental health project.
The project will be tailored mainly for children who are in standard 7 and below. She says this is because children are largely impressionable, absorb and mimic a lot at their young ages.
Miss Botswana clarified that her infamous ‘ wardrobe ‘ malfunction’’ was caused by the zip of her dress coming out of the rail just minutes before she was to enter on stage.
There were only two chaperones for all the participants, which meant that they could not afford everyone the same amount of attention and help. She had not brought her other dresses to the pageant as they were advised to bring one dress to the competition venue.
To make matters worse, she could not consult on what to do as she did not have her phone on her at that critical moment.
A fellow participants, Miss Cote d’Ivoire had brought two dresses to the venue and offered her the other.
Though she is disappointed that she did not wear a locally made dress for the big night, she does not want to dwell on the moment as she believes it did not have a dire impact on how she performed at the contest.
On her unadorned return to Botswana, she says that a series of factors led her to missing her flight home.
She says she was jet legged and had not had a lot of sleep in 7 days therefore she overslept in Johannesburg, which led to her missing the flight.
Miss Botswana had communicated everything to her management team on her new arrival schedule and she believes that the management team was in a better position to answer why she did not have a proper welcome.
In a phone interview, Raletsatsi stated that they are working on hosting a welcome ceremony for the Queen and they will communicate in due course the dates of the welcome ceremony.
He explained further that the team that manages Molefe is helping the queen to transition into her last phase as a reigning queen and life after Miss Botswana.
Molefe says that the next queen must be authentic. This is a lesson she was given by the former Miss Botswana, Emma Warriors.
“Have a heart for this, you need the compassion for this and you need the openness for this.”