Miss Botswana off to a bad start Home Miss Botswana off to a bad start news-image

By Southern Times -- Jul 26, 2019

Mpho Tebele

Gaborone - Despite assurances by organisers of Miss Botswana to improve and redeem the image of the beauty pageant, it appears the pageant is still far from returning to its heyday.

The controversy has now taken a new twist as potential contestants have reportedly decided to shun the pageant.

The pageant’s crew tasked with conducting auditions across the country was disappointed as little numbers of hopefuls showed up for auditions.

Miss Botswana coordinator, Tamati Ramatlhakwane, revealed that only 30 contestants have shown interest thus far.

These were from towns such as Palapye, Maun, Selebi Phikwe, Francistown and Ghanzi.

The final lap of the auditions will be held in Gaborone next weekend. According to Ramatlhakwane, out of the 30 contestants, they only managed to select 11. She said some of the contestants who showed interest did not meet the requirements such as height. But Ramatlhakwane was hopeful that many would turn up in Gaborone for the auditions.

“Despite the fact that we are disappointed by the low turnout, we are hopeful that participants will come for auditions in large numbers in Gaborone as some potential participants are in the capital city for tertiary studies,” she said.

Recently, a company engaged to restructure the Miss Botswana beauty pageant, Development Advance Institute (DAI), said it had come up with a five-year plan to turnaround the local pageant as part of efforts to lay the groundwork for the targeted hosting of the Miss World event.

The local pageant has been marred in controversy in the past, resulting in major stakeholders such as the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture and others sponsors, withdrawing sponsorship for the competition.

Last year, the pageant was only a three-horse race as only three out of the expected 12 contestants took part in the competition. But DAI official Benjamin Raletsatsi believes such controversies would be a thing of the past as they are keen on turning around the fortunes of the local pageant.

He said the ultimate objective was to host the Miss World at the end of a five-year contract that his organisation has signed with the Botswana Council of Women, which is the license holder for Miss Botswana.

“The five-year plan will help us resuscitate the prestigious beauty pageant. Our ultimate goal is to host the Miss World at the end of our five-year contract with Botswana Council of Women,” Raletsatsi said at the official launch of this year’s Miss Botswana, recently.

He acknowledged that over the years Miss Botswana has had both the bad and good times, but said this year was about correcting what happened in the past.

“We want Botswana to host Miss World in 2022. That is why this year we are going to ensure that Miss Botswana pageant is done properly. I know this sounds like an old song but last year’s event was taken completely out of context, people failed to understand and appreciate our efforts, given the circumstances,” Raletsatsi said.

Assistant Minister of Youth Sports and Culture, Philipp Makgalemele, has since assured the organisers of the pageant of the government’s support.

“I encourage those with the means to come forth and help this pageant. We should all contribute as at the end of the day, our country gets to shine,” Makgalemele said.

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