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Naledi Sande Arts Reporter
Miss Valentine Zimbabwe 2017 proved to be yet another beauty pageant which seeks to empower women, after women with little or no knowledge on modelling walked away with prizes after showing their prowess on the runaway in Harare on Saturday night. Held at the Harare Gardens, about 10 women and two men were crowned princesses and queens of the beauty pageant, which was meant to celebrate love by showcasing some of the country’s finest emerging models.
The pageant had three categories for the ladies namely Miss Teen Valentine, Mrs Valentine and Miss Valentine Zimbabwe. Yvonne Dhondo (24) from Kadoma was crowned Mrs Valentine, Sandra Dizwai (22) was crowned Miss Valentine Zimbabwe while Definite Kufandirori (18) walked away with the Miss Teen Valentine title.
Twin brothers Brenton and Branden Muvirimi were crowned Mr Valentine Zimbabwe 2017 and first prince respectively. Women from all over the country of all body shapes and heights were contesting for the main titles with the married contesting in the Mrs Valentine category.
Miss Valentine Zimbabwe is an ambassadorial pageant which promotes peace in the Zimbabwean communities through spreading love. Pageant founder and Zimbabwe international beauty pageant director Culvin Mavunga said models who won were to represent the country at international level.
“Miss Valentine also becomes an imperative podium for the selection of six top delegates to represent Zimbabwe in six international pageants during the year 2017,” he said.
The theme of this year’s pageant was cancer and each one of them had to briefly explain what they know about cancer. An online voting pageant had been running from December 2016 and the votes also contributed to the overall winner.
The top winners were automatically winners for the ambassadorial pageant which included Miss/Mrs/Miss Teen Heritage Zimbabwe, Mrs/Miss/Miss Teen Environment and Miss Tourism Africa Zimbabwe.
Sandra Dizwai, Definite Kufandirori and Yvonne Dhondo will travel to Malaysia in September while the runner-ups Melody Munkuli, Thembelihle Ndlovu and Raquel Matambanadzo will travel to Mynmar in November.
Top performances were given by “Godo” hit maker, Ba Shupi and impromptu performances from members of the audience who had a dance-off.
Of the women that contested, none of them was a professional model but such pageants boosted their confidence.
“Most of them are not fluent in English abut one thing is for sure; these ladies have gained more self-esteem and their lives will not be the same again,” said Simon who was part of the audience.
Online Reporter