Miss SA semi-finalists announced
THE 24 semi-finalists for Miss South Africa 2015, who will be vying for the crown in March, were revealed in Sun City yesterday.
One of the beauty queens will succeed Miss South Africa Rolene Strauss, who is in London to take part in the Miss World pageant next month.
Among the Miss South Africa semi-finalists are Altina Vries, Aseza Matanzima, Busi Mahlangu, Chanelle Sardinha, Danelle de Wet, Gugulethu Banda, Iman Sheik, Kelly Davids and Kim Wentzel.
The list of credentials of the Miss SA semi-finalists is impressive.
Many of the entrants have completed their studies or are studying towards degrees.
The gorgeous 23-year-old Melissa May Kock, from Knysna in the Western Cape, is a qualified speech-language and hearing therapist.
She is doing a community service year at Humansdorp Provincial Hospital.
Rachelle Gietzen, 22, from Rondebosch in Cape Town, is a fourth-year medical student at UCT.
She said: “I plan to use my medical degree in multiple arenas.
“I want to be a physician within my local community, but also advocate national health programmes, and conduct medical research at a global level.”
During the announcement, it was also revealed that the partnership with the 2014 headline sponsor, Cell C, had been so successful that the cellphone operator had signed a new three-year-contract with the Miss South Africa pageant, which will run until 2017.
Alison McKie, Sun International group manager of marketing, said the company had embarked on an incredible journey last year that changed the concept of the Miss South Africa pageant.
“It was one of our most successful years ever with Rolene Strauss being crowned Miss South Africa 2014.”
McKie said Sun International, long-time licence holders of the Miss South Africa title, along with Cell C, had decided that the pageant needed an exciting make-over to be relevant to a contemporary South Africa.
For the first time, the semifinalists would visit their hometowns to meet and engage their own communities, she said.
The 10 finalists will be revealed early next year as the build-up to the glittering occasion continues.