Anita Gumbo is the new Miss Midlands

province capital of Gwere last week.
This year’s theme for the pageant was “I am Zimbabwean”.

The lanky beauty, currently studying Banking and Finance at Gweru Polytech and also the reigning Miss Gweru’s second princess, romped to victory and snatched the Miss Aptitude award after reciting a poem about Mbuya Nehanda.
Anita managed to shrug off stiff competition from 13 other contestants aged between 17 and 24 that were drawn from areas in and around Kwekwe, Gweru, Redcliff and Shurugwi.
For her efforts, she walked away with US$250 in cash and several hampers.

Anita will proceed to Harare for the Miss Zimbabwe together with Ruvarashe Masters who was crowned first princess and Nobesuthu Nhare who was voted second princess. The two princesses walked away with US$200 and US$100 respectively and numerous hampers courtesy of Regency Fairmile Motel, Village Lodge, Altfin Insurance and Midlands Hotel.
The Miss Bikini title went to Shermain Dhliwayo while Ruvarashe Masters walked away with the Miss Congeniality title and was voted in by contestants as the friendliest and helpful contestant during the boot camp.

Clad in pink on the intimate session she drew attention of all attendants and endeared herself to the cheerful crowd as she gracefully went through her steps while beaming a confident smile.
She also managed to sail through the question and answer segment with ease, and cheers from the crowd drowned her responses.
The colourful event was spiced up with some performances from local musicians and poets who put up sterling performances from Tony West who mimicked Michael Jackson Dances and Midlands Finest Dancers.

The organiser and provincial licence holder for the pageant, Ms Mavis Koslek of Image Modelling Agency thanked stakeholders who assisted in the event.
“We hope next year’s event will draw equal attention from the crowd and stakeholders. Since this is one of the biggest events in the province, we expect people to continue providing unwavering support to the girl child’s cause. Cervical cancer is a serious issue and we hope the models will do all they can to assist in awareness programmes,” Ms Koslek said.

The pageant has been running since 1993 and has groomed the likes of Miss Universe Zimbabwe Lisa Morgan up to the age of 12 years while she was at Thornhill High School before she left for Harare to pursue her modelling career.