Bongani Ndlovu, Showbiz Correspondent
THE Miss Zimbabwe Trust will from next year bring back regional pageants as a way to involve Zimbabweans and improve the quality of the flagship contest and its participants.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Trust said it was in the process of licensing modelling agencies who will be tasked with holding preliminary competitions.
This year, the Miss Zim Trust cancelled the national pageant altogether saying there were no beautiful girls fit to represent the country at the Miss World contest – something they probably want to improve by scouting for models through regional pageants.
Crispen Sachikonye, the Trust’s founder said: “To improve the quality of the Miss Zimbabwe contest, new licensees to host the preliminaries to the contest will be appointed worldwide.
“Over the last few years, the Miss Zimbabwe Trust has been looking for ways to improve the quality of the contest.
“We’re bringing back the preliminary regional contests and getting our contestants for the Miss World Zimbabwe finale from there.”
Sachikonye, who has been in strategic discussions with various stakeholders, said besides improving the quality of the contest, this move was part of a wider effort to develop a contest that reflects Zimbabwe more accurately.
“After licensing, there’ll be a Miss Zimbabwe Canada, USA, South Africa, UK and other preliminary contests which will feed into the grand finale,” he said.
“The identification of licensees is now at an advanced stage with for example, Zimbabwe Fashion Showcase being selected as a licensee for Miss Zimbabwe UK. Other licensees that are being appointed are for Miss Zimbabwe USA, Canada, South Africa and of course Miss Zimbabwe from within Zimbabwe.”
Two years ago, organisers of Miss Zimbabwe scrapped provincial pageants saying they were sub-standard because of lack of funding.
The provincial beauty contests such as Miss Bulawayo were held annually to select a queen and two princesses who would go on to represent their respective provinces at the national Miss Zimbabwe contest.
Sachikonye said only contestants from these licensed contests, or those directly sanctioned by the Trust, will have a chance of becoming Miss Zimbabwe.
“Besides improving the quality of the contest, this move will help unify Zimbabwean efforts to market the country and its people. It’s also part of a wider effort to develop a contest that reflects Zimbabwe more accurately.”
He said they were optimistic that they would implement the changes next year.
“We hope Miss Zimbabwe 2017 will be based on the structure of having preliminary pageants before the national one to choose one queen,” said Sachikonye.
If implemented, the re-hosting of regional pageants might be good news for people such as modelling gurus Sarah Mpofu-Sibanda and Mavis Koslek who have reputable modelling agencies in Bulawayo and Gweru.