The Miss Carnival Zimbabwe pageant held at the Harare International Conference Centre last night, May 17 2013, was a real disappointment in terms of selection of contestants.
When you have people up on a ramp, male or female, they cannot look like anyone you’d pick up off the street. On the street everyone has a fair shot at being called beautiful, but once you put someone on a ramp, there has to be something about them that sets them apart from the rest of us, otherwise what is the point of having a pageant?
Last night at Miss Carnival Zimbabwe, it was like as a country we didn’t even make an effort to put our best out there. As the pageant went on, former Miss Zimbabwe winners, Malaika Mushandu, Brita Masalethulini, Oslie Muringai-Matsikenyere and Samantha Tshuma looked on and one could not help but wonder why we could not find contestants of the same calibre as them.
Out of the whole line up of contestants, there were probably two or three who came close to meeting the criteria of poise, presence and knowledge of their country, let alone beauty-queen-strikingness. During the question and answer session, some of the contestants failed to answer some of the most simple questions. One was asked which two countries were hosting the UNWTO General Assembly in August and she started; “Malawi…” drawing loud disapproval from the crowd.
The UNWTO Assembly being hosted by Zimbabwe and Zambia has been widely written about in the press and spoken about on radio and TV.
The ZimbabweTourism Authority, which is usually good at putting together a fair line up of contestants, for their pageants, didn’t do a good job this time round. At all.
Yes, we know that all this had to be done in a short space of time and the organisers were under a lot of pressure to pull this pageant off before the actual carnival takes off next week, but at a national level, especially with all the noise we are making about this carnival, we should not do things like this when we’re not ready.
The winner: Miss Carnival and Miss Tourism Zimbabwe 2013 , Dananai Chipunza | FF&A Photography
Having said that, congratulations to Dananai Chipunza (21) who was crowned Zimbabwe’s first carnival queen and to Thabiso Phiri (21) who was second and took the title of Miss Heritage home. The two stood out very clearly above the other contestants. Chipunza will receive prizes worth US$78,000, including US$20,000 cash, a Mercedes Benz and a host of other goodies. She will represent Zimbabwe at the Miss Tourism World finals. Phiri’s prizes include US$10,000 cash and she will represent the country at the Miss Heritage World finals.
Among the special guests at the pageant were Tourism Minister, Hon. Walter Mzembi and, as usual, at his side, beautiful wife Barbara.
MCs for the event were DJ and TV presenter Ellen Chiyindiko and former TV presenter Jefferson Muserera .The panel of judges included Book Café founder Paul Brickhill, Fashion designer Joyce Chimanye, model Connie Moyo, former Miss Zimbabwe winners Brita Masalethulini and Malaika Mushandu and poet Albert Nyathi.
Winky D and Sulumani Chimbetu were the big pullers for the event which saw about 3,500 people attending. The ‘Carnival Dancers’ were a highlight of the event, impressing the crowd with their amazing choreography and boundless energy.
The pageant was one of a series of events preceding the inaugural Zimbabwe International Carnival which runs from May 21 to May 26 in Harare. Next in line is a free gospel show at Glamis Arena in the capital this afternoon from 12pm. It will feature some of Zimbabwe’s top Gospel artists, including Baba na Mai Charamba, Mudiwa and Fungisai Zvakavapano-Mashavave.
