OBSTACLE IN MISS UNIVERSE DREAM

MBABANE – As the countdown to Miss Eswatini 2022 continues, an opportunity of a much bigger celebration has brought challenges, blocking the country to participate in the Miss Universe pageant.

Miss Eswatini has received an invitation to debut for Miss Universe and they have been requested to submit a proposal on how they will run Miss Universe from the selection of contestants, and how they will fund the pageant through financial partnerships. The two requests required to appear in the proposal for Miss Universe may see Eswatini not qualify because of the sponsorships they currently have which only cater for prizes of the winners.

When reached for comment, Eswatini pageants president Catrien Potgieter shared her concerns on the matter. “Our sponsors are only sponsoring prizes for the winners, currently there are no sponsors that are providing money for logistics and the running of Miss Eswatini. For the pageant to become successful, it must have running capital and be able to purchase the licence for Miss Universe. Many will argue that Miss Eswatini is not yet ready for Miss Universe, but when will we be ready?” queried Potgieter. The international beauty pageant issued out guidelines for Miss Eswatini to ascertain if they want to participate at the 2022/2023 Miss Universe pageant. The Miss Universe Organisation is committed to empowering today’s women and further their ideals and goals through the celebration of their beauty, diversity and achievements and, in addition, to provide an international forum to heighten awareness of global health and youth-related issues.

The role of a national director demands the use of industry experience, communication skills and a network of contacts to help these young women achieve their goals and build a platform from which to pursue their interests. Miss Universe issued a set of guidelines to Eswatini which open up the question of readiness and affordability.  These are some of them;
*     How would you identify appropriate judges for your pageant?
*     How would you recruit contestants?
*     How would you solicit sponsorships and compile your prize package?
*     How would you advertise and promote your pageant?

The international pageant set requirements to know if that particular country, in this case Eswatini, has proper industry experience, professional resume, letters of recommendation from other professional contacts, marketing and publicity skills, working capital and financial stability. Additionally, a clear miss in one would jeopardise the county’s opportunity to participate and acceptance at Miss Universe would depend on the territory being available to licence and on them having space for your contestant in the Miss Universe Competition. To answer some of the questions that were raised, Miss Eswatini 2022/2023 Director Musawenkosi Mantinto mentioned how in the kingdom pageant judges are chosen or selected, which is according to experience in the industry, professional and also academical achievement of that panel.  

The kingdom has competed in an international pageant such as Miss Universe and Miss World in over a decade. Regarding these developments, Eswatini National Council of Arts and Culture (ENCAC) office mentioned that they shifted their focus because it was beyond their budget to take winners to international competitions. “We realised that it would be too expensive for us to take so much money and support one person, while we can distribute that money to help many other artists. This is also the reason why our winners today win scholarships instead of a car like in previous years,” said the president. Potgieter then said winners of local pageants do compete in other international pageants, which are not as popular as the Miss World and Miss Universe, for example Takhona Khumalo who is currently competing in Miss Tourism Global. She said beauty pageant winners needed to be educated; hence they had turned down car dealerships that were willing to give them cars and asked for packages which were more productive.

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