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Thupeyo Muleya
Beitbridge Bureau
Youthful supermodel, Shanaaz Banda (17), from the Shashe area has been crowned the inaugural Miss Rural Beitbridge 2022 after shrugging off a stiff challenge from 17 other beauties in a pageant held at Mtetengwe Primary School at the weekend.
The event was coordinated by Pure Black Beauty to explore and give raw talent and build confidence for the supermodels from the rural communities, so they may be able to compete with those from the urban areas.
For her effort, Banda earned R1 200 cash, a night at Mutsa Lodge in Beitbridge and a ticket to represent the Beitbridge district at the forthcoming Miss Culture Zimbabwe set for Harare in July. The 18 models were drawn from Beitbridge’s 15 rural wards.
Lisa Mbedzi (16) from the Lutumba area, who from the onset made her intentions of walking away with the crown known, came out of the beauty contest as the first princess.
Kokesto Sibanda (20) from Shashe, Ronell Mbedzi (25) of Musane and Prominence Moyo (22) of Malala settled for the second princes, Miss Cocktail and Best Dressed respectively. The rest of the top five were awarded cash prizes of between R300 and R1 000. Tshivenda hip-hop artistes Prince Adrie Moyo, budding gospel artiste Eve and local traditional dance groups added colour to the event.
In an interview after the contest, Banda said she was glad that Pure Blak Beauty had availed an opportunity for the girls from the most remote areas to showcase their talent.
“This was a tough contest, everyone put in a lot of effort, and during my tenure, I intend to engage in many projects that promote the maturing of talent for girls from the most disadvantaged communities, especially rural areas in Beitbridge,” she said.
“We need more of these contests, they help to build our confidence considering that most of the time those in the rural areas are usually overlooked in most programmes.”
Pageant coordinator, Allen Ngwerume, said they held auditions to select the supermodels in March.
He said the top four winners and others from Pure Blak Beauty will represent Beitbridge District at the Miss Culture Pageant to be held in Harare soon.
“The event was a success considering that it was the first of its kind,” he said. “We received a lot of cooperation from the rural community and Team Blakkie led by Thomas Chiyanike.
“We are going to build on this momentum for the future events and we hope to make them bigger. This time around, our target was the rural girl child aged between 15 and 25 years (who haven’t given birth and are tall from 1,5m).
“The main objective is to build their confidence and also give them opportunities just like their colleagues in urban settlements.”
Ngwerume said they started doing the auditions in March where teams went around the ward centres in the rural areas.
He said his agency was casting the net wider to give rural models an opportunity to grow and showcase their talents.
“We are looking for models to sign, uplift, encourage and promote,” said Ngwerume. “You will realise that at times people in rural areas are often left out of many programmes and we want to bridge that gap in modelling.”
Beitbridge Proportional Representation legislator, Metrine Mudau, called on more stakeholders to increase support for projects that seek to empower girls and youths in general in the district.
Online Reporter