Yhuuu... what's happening with Miss South Africa this year is so shocking and unbelievably nasty I can't believe it's actually happening.
If you've missed the memo: the Top 15 were announced on Wednesday (24 June) amidst the news that "The public can vote for the Top 10!"
BUT only if they pay for the privilege.
AND their votes might or might not mean anything.
People must buy batches of votes by credit card or at Checkers like so:
AND they can't choose how to spend their voting bundles. This is what that small print says:
Please note that voting bundles cannot be split to vote for more than 1 girl. 1 Bundle - all votes in bundle for 1 semi-finalist.
It's insane on so many levels where does one possibly start?!
Oh wait, maybe the small issue of Lockdown, its financial devastation and South Africa's over-30% unemployment rate is a good place to begin.
The competition is supposed to find someone to represent South Africans but a third of our population don't even have an income let alone the spare change to blow on voting for a pageant.
And it's not even spare change that's required because R20 to R100 is expensive!
I honestly don't see anyone voting - who would? And why?!
The only people I can imagine voting are the family and friends of the contestants.
And THIS is such a huge problem it makes Miss South Africa mean nothing.
Actually, that's not true. It makes it a platform for "the haves" to have more.
All of the
Top 15 finalists have degrees or are finishing them, a trend that's increased over the past few years.
It's obviously intended to show: "Look! This isn't only a beauty pageant but these women have brains too".
Besides how patronising that is, the other problem is there are so many women "who have brains too" but don't have the opportunity to get qualifications and flashy jobs.
I thought Miss South Africa was supposed to be a platform for opportunity for South African women -
especially for those who haven't had opportunity - but obviously not. It seems you need to have "made it" first before you're considered.
And if you know rich people who can vote for you, even better, because you may just make the Top 10!
Seriously... it really does come down to that doesn't it?
I see the Miss South Africa organisation has put up
this message on their site about how the voting works and how the money will be spent.
Here's an extract from it...beware.. it's ridiculous:
The public’s vote will be the equivalent of that of a fifth judge. For any contestant to progress, it will have to win the hearts of three of the five judges with the public as the fifth judge.
This allows the Miss South Africa Organisation to engage the public in electing its representative while also utilising the other judges voting power to act as “checks and balances” to prevent any one contestant from being unfairly advantaged strictly as a result of voting power.
A contestant’s social media following will not be considered with regards to votes. Funds raised will go towards the upskilling, empowerment, and training of the Top 10.
While certain aspects of the pageant are sponsored by our generous partners, others are not. We want to ensure that our contestants have every growth opportunity. Some money will also go towards the Miss South Africa Foundation.
All results are audited by PWC.
So the voting counts but not if people vote for someone too much or too little, then the judges have the final say because they suspect family and friends are voting but don't know for sure so they're going to take the money and override the votes?
Bah, what a mess and what utter rubbish!!
Someone save me and our country from this HELL and cancel this sorry excuse of a national event.