6 EC beauties in battle for coveted title
Winner of Mrs SA pageant aims to be a role model
SIX Eastern Cape beauties with brains are vying for the coveted Mrs South Africa title. The women – Vuyo Maqubela, Khululwa Mfundisi, Zanele Mankayi, Zikhona Tywabi-Ngeva, Unetsie Steenberg-Botha and Babalwa Zibi – have made it to the top 100 in the semifinals.
The pageant was created for married women who would ordinarily not have such a platform to compete on and be ambassadors for South Africa, on a global scale.
It is hoped through the journey of Mrs South Africa, women find themselves again and learn that they are never too old to follow their dreams and become voices of change.
East London’s Maqubela said for the past two years, people had been asking her to enter the pageant but she never took it seriously until late last year. “I told myself I have nothing to lose – let me just do it and have fun while doing it,” she said, adding that she was surprised to make it to the top 100 semi-finalists.
“Entering this pageant is not about the title for me; it’s about the life lessons that we are taught, the sisterhood and new friendships that we gain and the fact that there are a lot of women out there who are ready and willing to pull each other up,” she said.
Mdantsane-born Zibi said she always looked for ways to improve herself and in her quest to do that she came across a post encouraging married women to submit forms for the pageant. “I am passionate about women empowerment and I realised this could open opportunities for me to interact and network with people who have more resources to assist me develop even more women from where I come from,” she said.
She said through the platform she has had the opportunity of having access to people that she would never have met before. “I intend to use this platform to empower myself and in return empower other women. I believe in the saying ‘If you empower women you empower the nation’.”
Twenty-six-year old Mankayi said her participation was prompted by those women who have no financial resources or support, and face discrimination and stigmatisation from their communities because they have kids with autism. She wants to extend her love and support to the women who have children with autism, to bring hope, uplift them encourage them to see the best in their children. “It is my belief that if a mother is emotionally stable, she will be able to help the child reach his/ her full potential. I am eager to empower disadvantaged women, more especially the ones in rural areas of East London, King William’s Town and Butterworth,” said the Butterworth-born woman.
Among the semi-finalists is University of Fort Hare’s youngest researcher and lecturer, Tywabi-Ngeva, who wants to encourage women to never let go of their dreams. “Being a female scientist, I understand firsthand how often women are underrated and unrecognised. I want the challenges that I have overcome, and the lessons that I have learnt, to serve as an inspiration to the youth so that they can live up to their full potential,” she said.
Cala town’s Mfundisi said she wanted to make a difference in her community and be a role model. “I want to show them that anything is possible and we should not be limited by our backgrounds or society’s expectations of us,” she said, adding that a woman did not stop living when she got married.
Despite attempts to reach Unetsie Steenberg-Botha via the e-mail address supplied by the competition organisers, the Dispatch had not received a reply from her at the time of going to print.
The 25 finalists in the pageant are expected to be announced in June.
To vote for your favourite, sms her ‘name and surname’ to 35959. The sms costs R3. You can also like the Mrs South Africa Facebook page and like your favourite’s picture. —