Cell C cuts ties with Miss SA

WEEKEND ARGUS / 24 MARCH 2019, 09:00AM / LUKE FOLB

Cape Town - Hundreds of would-be beauty queens will have to wait to enter the Miss South Africa contest after one of the pageants headline sponsors ended its sponsorship of the event.

Cell C has been a co-sponsor of Miss SA along with Sun International since 2014, but have now ended their five-year association after a review of its “various sponsorship properties”.

Cell C said this week, that the network was proud of its involvement with the Miss SA organisation, which included the crowning of two international title winners (Miss World 2014, Rolene Strauss and Miss Universe 2017, Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters) and the reigning Miss SA Tamaryn Green as first runner-up at Miss Universe 2018.

Sun International spokesperson, Zoleka Skweyiya, confirmed Cell C’s contract came to an end while new sponsors were consulted ahead of this year’s pageant.

It is not clear whether Cell C’s withdrawal is the cause of the competition’s delay, with organisers remaining mum on the reason for the delay.

The pageant is normally held in March every year, with last year an exception when it was held in May because Miss SA was celebrating a 60-year anniversary with previous winners having to fly in from around the world for the competition.

“Planning and entries will only commence for the Miss SA 2019 competition once sponsorship agreements have been finalised,” said Skweyiya.

The delay in staging the competition won’t have any bearing on qualification for the Miss World and Miss Universe pageants as pageant rules state that “contestants must be between the ages of 18 and 27 as of January 1 in the year they compete”, while contestants must apply to enter the competition through the national director in their country.

Miss SA ran every year since 1956 but in 2013 Sun International cancelled the event and shifted the pageant into the first half of 2014 to bring it in line with other major entrants to Miss World and Miss Universe.

“Globally, Miss SA has become a force to be reckoned with and locally, it contributes to national pride.

“It continues to be a platform for young women to realise their dreams and be positive role models for millions of South Africans,” former Miss SA, Suzette van der Merwe said.

Miss SA 1989, Michelle Bruce (now Michelle Mountain), said she had a successful modelling career in Europe before she became a beauty queen.

“Winning Miss SA was a peak event for me but the most enjoyable and successful part of my career was as an international model,” she said.

Meanwhile, Tamaryn Green has returned to medicine after she interrupted her final year of medical studies at UCT, when she was crowned Miss SA last year.

She recently took to Instagram to post a picture of herself in scrubs with the caption, “haven’t been in these for a while”.

“Looking forward to stepping back into theatre”.

Green assisted during an operation, asking the patient for permission beforehand.

She is due to return to her studies on April 1.

Green isn’t the first Miss SA to pursue a medical qualification, former Miss SA’s Adè van Heerden and Rolene Strauss are qualified doctors.

Strauss also put her studies on hold when she became Miss SA and then Miss World in 2014, but returned to the University of the Free State to complete her studies after her reign was over.

Other former winners Melinda Bam, Joanne Strauss and Cindy Nel have launched successful media careers since being crowned Miss SA.

https://www.iol.co.za/weekend-argus/cell-c-cuts-ties-with-miss-sa-20055711