Miss South Africa is an annual South African beauty pageant which is aired as a television special, in which women from around the country between the ages of 18-25 compete to win the title, which they hold for a year.
The pageant began in 1956 and has been held annually ever since (with the exception of 1983, the only year in which there has been no pageant). The winner of the pageant traditionally represents South Africa at the Miss World pageant, and often at the Miss Universe pageant as well.
The 53rd annual Miss South Africa pageant took place in the Sun City Superbowl on Sunday 13 December, 2009. It was broadcast live on SABC3 from 19h30-21h00.
Miss South Africa 2009
Miss South Africa took place in the Sun City Superbowl on Sunday 13 December, 2009.
Ticket prices ranged from R195 for Lower Upper seats and R175 for Upper Upper seats. Doors opened at 18h30. Miss South Africa was broadcast live on SABC3 from 19h30 to 21h00.
This year’s audience saw performances from DJ Cleo, Coda, Chris Chameleon, Jessie Clegg and Loyiso.
The 12 Miss SA finalists wore softly draped gowns in chiffon and silk, accentuating their femininity, designed by Kluk CGDT and David Tlale.
Miss SA was produced by Mark West, Executive Producer of Cap Events, who has produced eight Miss World pageants, including those in India, the Seychelles and China. He is well known for his theatre and TV productions.
For bios of the 12 finalists in 2009, see the links to their profiles below.
History of Miss South Africa
The pageant as we know it today began in 1956. In that year Die Landstem, a national Afrikaans-language newspaper, acquired the rights to send a delegate to the Miss World pageant in London.
In conjunction with The Sunday Times, a national English-language newspaper, the first official Miss South Africa competition was organised to select South Africa's entrant for the Miss World pageant.
At first the competition was called Miss RSA (the title changed to Miss South Africa in 1982).
For the first 11 years of the competition the winners were chosen by readers of Die Landstem and The Sunday Times. Both newspapers would publish the entries they received and ask readers to vote on them. Once the finalists had been selected the newspapers would publish them and once again ask their readers to vote.
The winners would then be published in both newspapers on the same day.
In 1968 Die Landstem was shut down and sole organisation of the competition fell to The Sunday Times. In the same year they changed the format slightly - although finalists were still chosen from entries submitted to the newspaper, Miss RSA was selected by a panel of celebrity judges who met with the finalists at a venue in Johannesburg.
There was no "live" coronation, and the panel's decision was published in the press a week or two after the judging session.
The Sunday Times took on the Afrikaans newspaper Dagbreek as a media partner in 1968. In 1970 Dagbreek and another Afrikaans newspaper, Beeld, were amalgamated into one newspaper, Rapport, who became the media partner to Sunday Times for the Miss RSA competition in the same year it was first published, 1971.
The following year - in 1972 - the first public coronation of Miss RSA took place at the Johannesburg City Hall, where Stephanie Reinecke was crowned in front of a few hundred people.
In 1982, Rapport decided to create their own competition after a sponsorship row with the Sunday Times. They called the breakaway competition Miss South Africa and that year there were two competitions: Miss RSA and Miss South Africa, which were won by Sandra de Meyer and Odette Scrooby respectively.
Miss RSA remained the main competition, however, making de Meyer the de facto winner that year.
In 1983 there was no competition at all for the first time since the annual competition began in 1956 (there has also never been a gap year since). Sunday Times were rumoured to be pulling out of the Miss RSA competition, but they decided to stay and made a date early in 1984 for the next competition.
Rapport once again staged their breakaway competition, and once again there were two Miss South Africas: Lorna Potgieter (Sunday Times) and Letitia Snyman (Rapport).
The following year the rival factions realised the pointlessness of the situation and pulled together to form one competition, called Miss South Africa (which it has remained ever since).
Shortly before the 1993 pageant the two newspapers revealed they were "selling" the pageant rights, and after the 1993 pageant - which was won for the first time by a black African, Jacqui Mofokeng - the rights to the pageant were "sold" to Doreen Morris and Sun International.
In 2000 Sun International took sole ownership of the pageant and have owned it ever since.
There were various periods in the competition's history where finalists were chosen after regional pageants (1970-1975 and 1994-2000). Since 2000 contestants have been selected via nationwide castings.
Miss South Africa Winners
The Miss South Africa contest has been an annual event since 1956, with the exception of 1983, when no pageant was held. The official history of the pageant thus begins in 1956.
There were three previous winners of Miss South Africa, however, in once-off unofficial contests.
In 1925 Mavis Alexander was crowned the first ever Miss South Africa, although at the time the contest wasn't wasn't referred to as Miss South Africa - it was simply a nationwide search for the most beautiful woman in South Africa.
The next time the contest was held was in 1944, when it was won by Avelyn MaCaskill.
Wynona Cheyney became the third unofficla Miss South Africa in a contest held in 1949. She held the title of "Miss South Africa" for three years, until 1951.
The next time the pageant was held was in 1956, when it became an annual affair. See "History of Miss South Africa" above for more details.
1925: Mavis Alexander 1944: Avelyn MaCaskill 1949: Wynona Cheyney
1956
Winner: Norma Vorster 2nd: Gloria Keeley 3rd: Virginia Burman
1957
Winner: Adele Kruger 2nd: Jessie Waring 3rd: Denise Nichols 4th: Barbara Millea 5th: Penelope Ann "Penny" Coelen
1958
Winner: Penelope Ann "Penny" Coelen 2nd: Rosemary Whitlock 3rd: Debbie du Toit 4th: Peggy Moran 5th: Susie Pieters
1959
Winner: Moya Meaker 2nd: Sophia Pieters 3rd: Kitty Green 4th: Karen Perkins 5th: Tina Zwijsen
Winner: Tatum Keshwar 2nd: Anja van Zyl 3rd: Buyi Shongwe
2009
Winner: Nicole Flint 2nd: Matapa Maila 3rd: Lisa Maree Van Zyl
Miss World
Traditionally, winners of Miss South Africa have competed in the Miss World pageant (and many of them in the Miss Universe contest as well).
The Miss South Africa pageant was born out of a desire to send a representative from South Africa to the Miss World pageant in 1956.
The first ever miss South Africa - Norma Vorster - was also the first Miss SA to compete at Miss World, in the same year.
Although Vorster failed to place in the finalist positions for Miss World, the following year Adele Kruger was 2nd runner-up at Miss World.
The year after that - in 1958 - Penny Coelen became the first South African winner of Miss World, and the only South African to date to win the title outright (Anneline Kriel inherited the Miss World title in 1974 after the winner, Helen Morgan, resigned after four days into her reign, upon discovering she was pregnant).
From 1970 to 1976, in an abhorrent appeasement to growing world dissent over Apartheid, the Miss World pageant permitted South Africa to send two contestants to the pageant - one white and one black. The white contestant wore a sash with "South Africa" whilst the black contestant wore a sash with "Africa South" on it.
In the year this policy was instituted, 1970, the black "Africa South" delegate, Pearl Jansen, was 1st runner-up at Miss World, while the white "South Africa" delegate, Jillian Jessup, was 4th runner-up, possibly a political statement by the organisers.
This state of affairs continued until 1976, the year in which some Miss World contestants walked out because of Lynn Massyn's presence. In 1977 only one delegate was sent from South Africa, Vanessa Wannenburg. No black representatives were sent.
The following year South Africa was banned from participating in the Miss World pageant. The ban lasted until 1991, when Diana Tilden-Davis became the first post-isolation Miss South Africa to take part in Miss World (she was the second runner-up).
From 1991-1999 every Miss South Africa who participated at Miss World finished in the Top 10, with two first runners-up (Palesa Mofokeng, 1993 and Basetsane Makgalemele, 1994) and three second runner-ups (Diana Tilden-Davis, 1991; Jessica Motaung, 1997 and Sonia Raciti, 1999).
Tatum Keshwar was the last Miss South Africa to place in the Top 10 at Miss World, ending as second runner-up in 2009.
Miss World 2009, the 59th Miss World Final, was held at Gallagher Estate in Johannesburg, South Africa on Saturday 12 December, 2009.
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