Chronicle Editor
Mthabisi Tshuma, [email protected]
The second edition of the Little Mr and Miss Gwanda will be held this Saturday at the Matabeleland South Agricultural Show Exhibition Centre in the mining town, after a four-year hiatus.
Held under the theme “Reinforcing children’s rights”, 20 models aged between four and eight will vie for the two titles on the runway. The girl models are Enhle Sibanda, Pretty Dube, Queen Xesha Sibanda, Princess Bhebhe, Lindelwe Tshuma, Pretty Princess Dube, Bonang Nare, Kelly Sibanda, Ingrid Nyathi, Minenhle Adorable Moyo, Latoya Moyo, and Mbalenhle Dube. The boy models are Mpilwenhle Ndlovu, Liam Sitambo, Mzingaye Ndlovu, Unathi Nyathi, Jayden Siziba, Mzingaye Khumalo, Mekford Mleya, and Tinashe Mudzinge.
Organiser of the event, Profience “Kadder” Cadder, expressed excitement about hosting the event again, which aims at promoting young aspiring models.
“This is the second edition of the pageant, with the first one having been held in October 2019. It was supposed to be an annual pageant, but we were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. After the pandemic, we no longer had a suitable place to hold the event until this year.
“We now have our own facilities at the Matabeleland South Agricultural Show Society, and we’re grateful to the responsible authorities.”
Organised by Planet Kadder Academy, the inspiration behind the event is to identify talent for their professional modelling course as well as to groom future ambassadors of Gwanda town.
“The other aim is to educate the community on children’s rights as well as empower them with better knowledge on their rights, responsibilities, and ways of reporting abuse,” said Kadder.
She added that they are working with various stakeholders to ensure the event is a resounding success.
“Our vision is to train the finalists in runway modelling, photoshoots, and creating synergies with businesses that will then use them as the faces of their brands.
“We foresee young models from Gwanda advertising for big brands like Jet, Power Sales, and Simbisa, among others.
“The heritage-based education 5.0 encourages grooming human resources towards socio-economic development, and thus we intend to equip the little ones with arts and entrepreneurship skills as well,” she said.
Kadder’s former lecturer, Timothy Chirume has been roped in as a guest judge.
“The guest adjudicator is Mr Timothy Chirume, my former lecturer at Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Polytechnic, who taught me effectively about the guidelines of engaging the community in our community outreach programme in the Professional Studies Syllabus A. I still implement those guidelines, and they are very effective.
“We use them to explain the benefits of modelling and to motivate parents to allow their children participate in the contest. Parental involvement in the arts has grown a lot,” she said. – @mthabisi_mthire
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