Africa-Press – Eswatini. A pupil from St Mary’s High School scooped the crown for Miss Lobamba Heritage 2022.
Zenkosi Tsela among nine other beautiful girls walked away with the title of Miss Lobamba after being crowned at Mdzimba View Shisanyama.
The event which took place on Friday saw Ntombikayise Vilakati walk away with the first Princess title and Lucelle Hoare crowned second Princess.
The pupil thanked her parents and family for the support.
She further made a vow to make sure she delivered on her duties to community members as Miss Lobamba.
Tsela in her introduction video said she was aspirant in starting an organisation that would cater for the needs of the community members.
Her answer during the question and answer stage is what made her the crowds favourite after being asked what the definition of a beautiful girl was?
“A beautiful girl is someone that knows herself, their culture and respect,” Tsela responded in vernacular.
Her princesses were also convincing in their answers. As Hoare said she would make sure the Siswati language was taught from primary school level after being asked how she would preserve the native language.
Whereas, Vilakati when asked what had helped the youth culturally, answered that the Umhlanga Reed dance made sure girls kept themselves pure.
The judges after the question and answer session thanked the girls congratulated all of them for taking part in the pageant competition. “You are all beautiful. You are a queen even if you leave without being crowned tonight,” said one of them.
The pageant started at 8pm with the ladies in white T-shirts and black jeans. The contestants were Simsile Tsabedze, Neliswa Kheswa, Zenkosi Tsela, Neliswa Tfwala, Xoliswa Dlamini, Temavulane Motsa, Ntombikayise Vilakati, Mandisa Mhlongo and Lucelle Hoare, all residents under the Lobamba Constituency.
Lobamba Indvuna Abraham Bhembe was among the spectators.
The contestants did a dance in their outfits while the crowd watched. Letsie was the emcee of the event which was supported by resident deejays.
The event saw top performances by Key 2 Key, Pro.Mhlo, KG Phalafala, Nonzwakazi, Kasi Groovers, Tweester Lepopinyana, Big Swazi and many more.
As the competition continued the ladies came out in their Swati culture attires and performed a cultural dance. They also dressed in their swimwear and gowns thereafter.
The top five was Mhlongo, Vilakati, Hoare, Tsela and Tsabedze.
The organiser of the pageant, Chakazile Ngwenya thanked the owners of the venue, sponsors of the event, Lobamba Member of Parliament Allen Stewart, the Indvuna, Thandeka Dlamini for motivating the competitors and everyone who made the event a success.
While Sithembile Zwane a representative from Eswatini National Council of Arts and Culture congratulated the Inkhundla for hosting such a prestigious event.
She praised Ngwenya for staying in touch with her cultural heritage and not losing the identity of the Swati culture.
“The youth of today is exposed to a lot of things. If we could have such initiatives that would sort of act as a form of barrier to stop our children from being exposed to unethical behaviour, that would be perfect,” she said.
She further thanked Ngwenya for grooming the girls and encouraged her to continue with the pageant initiative.
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