Africa-Press – Botswana. Lisa Lenyora of Mathangwane was crowned Miss Eke-Ntolo Mu Bukalanga queen and went away with P7 000 first prize award. The first Princess, Onneile Chibuda from Mbalambi, pocketed P3 000 while the second, Princess Chatapiwa Phuti from Masunga, was rewarded with P2 000.
Speaking during Miss Eke-Ntolo Mu Bukalanga Beauty Pageant on Saturday, the Assistant Minister of Higher Education, Justine Hunyepa, said the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) put youth in the forefront in job creation. He said beauty pageants as part of cultural display, could create jobs, augmenting one of the aspirations envisioned in the UDC manifesto.
Hunyepa said beauty pageants were appropriate in creation of assortment of jobs around the country. “The creative industry is one of the fastest growing sectors globally with significant contribution to employment,” he said.
He said Botswana was rich with cultural heritage, talent and entrepreneurial spirit and was easy to harvest this wealth to enhance the economy.
He said the contestants brought with them various talents to spread Kalanga culture, which formsed part of the Tswana culture and that as the UDC, they believed that every child had talent.
“For the contest to kick-start, it starts with employment of events planning and management team, logistics, fashion and designers, saloon, advertisers, trainers, accommodation, security, transport, sound system,” he said, noting that more than 70 people would be engage for such an event at a cost.
The Assistant Minister further noted that the organisers were planning to make a tourist attraction event in the future so that it could attract international participants and guests.
The newly elected councilor for Vukwi, Refilwe Dube, indicated that in 2023, he was approached by the organiser Kushatha Lewatle, who had been anticipating to start it and agreed to start it at Zwenshambe. He said the initial prize was too low, and decided that this year’s beauty queen would go home with P7 000.
Dube said they planned to increase the first price to be something tangible like a bachelor pad in the future as they have partners like hardwares, builders amongst others.
He encouraged unity among residents and all stakeholders to ensure that as time goes on, they offered a significant price. Lewatle expressed gratitude and thanked residents of Masunga for the support and making her what she was.
She said the idea of the event was to resurrect the Kalanga culture, which was gradually fading or deteriorating.
This, she said, would not be proper as the coming young generation would not be able to know their roots, culture, origins and how the older generation was living in the olden years. She said participants came from 20 villages in the North East District and the Tutume District.
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