Miss Botswana Makes History

Monkagedi Gaotlhobogwe
Staff Writer | Monday May 4, 2009 00:00

 

The organisers of the show say  one of their sponsors, Tau Pride, a South African company, supplied the Miss Botswana branded chopper for the crowning ceremony.

'It is very expensive to hire a chopper. It costs P200 000, so the idea was to fly the queen for that moment, so she can see her city,' Thapelo Pabalinga of Leapfrog Advertising explained.

The new beauty queen now owns a brand new Benz, worth P300,000. She will get a P50,000 bursary for academic course of her choice. Fuel company, BP, will supply the queen with fuel for a year. Her first princess, Emma Wareus walked away with P50,000 cash while the second princess, Naledi Willers, pocketed P10,000. America's Hip-Hop  mogul Russell Simmons has sponsored the three winners with approximately P21,000 worth of jewellery. The queen and her princesses will each get a  diamond bracelet worth $700.

The organisers of the event beamed Russell Simmons' short donation message on video  to the audience. The rap mogul was seen holding the bracelets he is presenting to Miss Botswana and her princesses.

Pabalinga said they established contact with Simmons when he visited Botswana a few years ago. 'He has a fund, the Diamond Empowerment Fund, that is empowering African women.  He is a philanthropist,' Pabalinga told Showtime.It was a night of glamour and glitz at the finals, featuring the top 14 beauties at the GICC, Grand Palm. Celebrity South African Radio and House DJ, Fresh Sikwane and international model Kaone Kario were some of the judges at the beauty contest. South African comedian, David Kau, was hired to spice the night with jokes, while a team of well-trained R&B and Hip Hop choreographers and gymnasts performed their tricks in between the acts. A South African jazz band played cabaret music, while local acts, Kgotla and Vee also featured.

Three giant screens beamed the action to the audience on an action packed night that saw the contestants first showing off their dancing talent. They bounced to some sizzling Hip-Hop tunes, before strutting their stuff on the ramp for the judges.

The organisers have promised to make the current queen's reign a massive success. They will soon sit down with her and develop her charity profile, which she will be taking to the Miss World pageant where she will represent the country. In the past, Miss Botswana queens have struggled to raise funds for their charity works, clothes and air-tickets to the Miss World pageant.

The 2007-2008 winner Itseng Kgomotso faced threats to be dethroned by the pageant organisers after she complained repeatedly about lack of resources. Her predecessor, Malebogo Marumoagae complained frequently about the poor working conditions.

The 2005 the Botswana representative to Miss World, Tshegofatso Robi, had to solicit sponsorship for herself from the government to travel to China for the event. This put her at loggerheads with the licence holders, who felt the then 19-year-old was being disrespectful.