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Bornwise Mtonzi Arts Reporter
Although the previous Miss Rural Zimbabwe stirred controversy and folded in disgrace, youths in Mashonaland East have decided to bring back the pageant and give it a good moral face to celebrate beauty in rural areas and small towns. Young people’s organisation Zimbabwe Multi-talented Youth Association in conjunction with the Ministry of Youth, Indiginisation and Economic Empowerment will launch Miss Rural Seke beauty pageant at Madangure Hotel in Seke on Friday.
The Seke pageant will be the first in a series of district pageants to be held in Mashonaland East. The pageant aims to celebrate rural life and uplift lives of the usually marginalised rural girls who will be battling out for the crown. Miss Rural is exclusively meant for the rural girls and is set to go to all the nine districts in Mashonalnad East.
Christine Matizha, the president of the Zimbabwe Youth Council Mashonaland East as well as one of the organisers of the event, said the event is meant to uplift the rural girls and give them the opportunity to be recognised in the world. “The pageant is meant to uplift the rural girls so that they can also be exposed to the outside world, to promote their culture identity and promoting of the rural culture,” said Matizha.
The pageant will be sponsored by an organisation called Shamwari Yemwanasikana. The previous Miss Rural pageant that was run by Sipho Mazibuko on a national level attracted controversy following allegations that there was rampant abuse of the rural girls.
But the organisers of the upcoming event said they would guard against such cases. “This year the pageant has a lot of stakeholders and we assure you that what happened to the previous pageant will not happen again. We have joined hands with the chiefs to talk about morals to the girls as well as teams from various churches that will interact with the girls,” said Matizha.
She also said there will be a respected woman who will be moving around with the girls to make sure that they are well protected from those who would want to abuse them. Activists once accused the organisers of the pageant of exploiting the rural girl-child but the organisers say they have a good cause for the girls.
Online Reporter