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The former beauty queens said Dhlakama’s predicament proved that there was a lot that the Miss Zim Trust needed — an immediate overhaul before the next pageant is held.
Bongani was a victim of circumstances and was unfortunate that she was embroiled in the Miss Zim circus from the onset until she went for the Miss World finals in China.
Dhlakama — who was part of the bevy of beauties that experienced probably the worst treatment in the history of the Zimbabwe pageant as the Miss Zimbabwe circus raged on from February to April when the finals were held — had to carry with her the burden of the trust to China as she battled to be her country’s ambassador.
Her recent experience that probably led to her lacklustre performance at the glamorous event has been met with mixed feelings by former models and modelling followers who feel she was just an “unfortunate girl”.
Miss Zimbabwe 2010 Samantha Tshuma praised Bongani for her spirit at the Miss World competition.
“Firstly about Bongani, I think she did extremely well as she did not have time to prepare, she was not given enough time, but we have learnt a lesson for the future.
“As a former model I know how it feels, you don’t perform well if you do not have adequate resources,” said Tshuma.
She appealed to the Miss Zim Trust to put their house in order and urged the corporate sector to chip in to avoid future embarrassment.
“The Miss Zimbabwe Trust should put their house in order now before the next pageant, so that the corporate world could chip in.
“Any company that is liquid and willing should come on board and promote the Miss Zim brand even if they do not take it away from the Miss Zim Trust,” said Tshuma
The Bulawayo beauty reflected on some of her experiences with the then sponsors, the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority.
“ZTA raised the standards of the pageant and during my tenure as Miss Tourism Zimbabwe I was given an allowance to spend ahead of the Miss World pageant.
“I cannot say how much it was, but I remember they gave me money for shopping and money to spend for my personal upkeep, it was really great. People may say all sorts of this about ZTA, but it really made the pageant worthwhile,” said Tshuma.
Miss Zimbabwe 2005, Lorraine Maphala, who was the inaugural Miss Tourism Zimbabwe after ZTA took over the licence, said Bongani was unfortunate that she had to endure such treatment as the country’s ambassador, but added that the Miss Zimbabwe crown was just more than sponsorship.
“It’s just unfortunate for her because we were lucky, I really feel sorry for her. But it is a lesson for aspiring Miss Zimbabwe queens that the title is just more than getting monetary gains, but it’s about charity work using your own resources at times,” said Maphala.
Contacted for comment on whether ZTA had plans to take over and assist as the pageant is part of the country’s marketing tool, ZTA public relations officer, Sugar Chagonda said his organisation handed over the licence and had no plans as yet to take it back.
“We do not have any obligations because we handed over the title in utmost good faith, the mandate is left with the Miss Zim Trust to maintain the pageant and find sponsors who are willing to improve it,” said Chagonda.
He said as far as he was concerned his organisation was not aware that Miss Zim Trust had any problems.
“We don’t know that there are problems, we think all is well.
“As for Miss Zimbabwe I think she represented the country well although she was unfortuante that she did not get the crown,” he said.
Dhlakama put up a poor perfomance at the recently held Miss World pagenat held in China after she failed to get a stride in any of the seven pre-judging categories.
Although she has refused to allude her failure to lack of preparations, she revealed that she was forced to dig deeper into her pockets to meet the requirements of the Miss World pageant, which all went in vain.
Online Reporter