Social media reports have mistakenly named media mogul, Basetsana Kumalo, as the first Miss South Africa after this past weekend's pageant. This has left the sister of former beauty queen, turned businesswoman, Jacqui Mofokeng, with a short history lesson to teach.
HISTORY
Tlaleng Mofokeng has come out guns blazing to correct the issue saying that Jacqui was the first black woman to be crowned Miss SA in 1993. Prior to her, Nonhle Tema's mother, Cynthia Shange, won the Miss Black South Africa title.
"Just a bit of history lesson.... Mme Cynthia Shange (Miss SA 1970) went on to compete at Miss World during apartheid. Although the title was different then, there were two beauty titles in Mzansi at the time,' she said, adding that "No matter how you word it, this is a lie and an erasure of the legacy of my sister, Ms Jacqui Mofokeng. Jacqui crowned Basetsana in 1994. She was the first black Miss South Africa in 1993,'
Born in 1972, in Soweto, Jacqui was 21 years old when she was crowned Miss SA.
ARCHIVES
Tlaleng said she has noted the lie for several years now and feels her sister's history is being erased. "It's an insult to the legacy of my family and Bafokeng (Phokeng).'
Tlaleng told ZiMoja that, "We need to be careful about how we document our history as Africans - we can't afford to make clumsy mistakes. It's not a personal attack on anyone, Bassie included. I feel we can be so careless about it.' Jacqui has since left the world of pageantry and is a successful businesswoman. She stood as ANC parliamentary candidate in the 2019 national elections and was subsequently elected to the National Assembly and sworn in on 22 May 2019.
BEAUTY QUEENS
Since then, several other black women have won Miss SA. In 1996, Peggy-Sue Khumalo won the title, a year gap, after Bassie. Before the beauty pageant, Peggy-Sue had worked as a domestic worker before going to study and getting her PR and Communications diploma and a BA Hons Economics & Political Sciences at the University of Manchester in the UK. She has since been an inspiration to many and was made an Executive at Investec South Africa. Joan Madibeng (Romagaoshi) won in 2003 before marrying Jeff Madibeng. Joan currently runs a Management company and grooming school. In 2005 Thuli Sithole was crowned Miss SA and went on to marry Swati Prince Cedza Dlamini and they have two kids.
In 2010, Bokang Mantjane became the second black contestant to enter all four pageants; Miss World, Miss Earth, Miss International, and Miss Universe. Bokang now runs Pulse TVF and Bokang Montjane Foundation. She was then followed by Zozibini Tunzi in 2019 who went to become Miss Universe that year. Shudufatso Mosida (2020), Lalela Mswane (2021) and Ndavi Nokeri (2022) then followed.
